Collin College Department of History Cotton Conference

The 14th Cotton & Rural History Conference

Saturday, April 17, 2010, 9:30 AM-1:30 PM

Audie Murphy/American Cotton Museum, Greenville, Texas

State Historian of Texas to keynote the

2010 Cotton & Rural History Conference

Light T. Cummins

"The Austin Family and the Foundations of Cotton Culture in Antebellum Texas"

Texas’ State Historian will deliver the keynote presentation at the 14th Cotton and Rural History Conference. Appointed Texas’ official State Historian by Gov. Rick Perry in 2009, Light T. Cummins is Bryan Professor of History and director of the Center for Southwestern and Mexican Studies at Austin College. The author of eight books and dozens of published journal articles and essays, Cummins has received an impressive array of accolades for his research, writing and teaching including a Fulbright Scholarship, a Piper Professorship, and the Bouligny Prize.

His presentation will focus on the role played by Stephen F. Austin and his family in introducing cotton production in Texas. From recruiting the first major plantation owner to Texas, to the individual cotton plantations founded by his sister and brother-in-law, cousins and nephews, Austin’s family, Dr. Cummins argues, “played a significant role” in establishing cotton in the Lone Star State.

“And Grace Will Lead Me Home”
African American Freedmen Communities
of Austin, Texas, 1865-1928

Michelle M. Mears will introduce conference-goers to her book And Grace Will Lead Me Home: African American Freedmen Communities in Austin, Texas, 1865-1928 published by Texas Tech University Press in 2009. A native Austinite, Mears has been researching and writing about Austin’s historic freedmen communities since 2000. She became interested in the topic while working on a master’s thesis and has been engaged in extensive research about local African American history at the Austin History Center for years.

Mears is University Archivist at the University of North Texas in Denton. Prior to her arrival in Denton in 2006, she worked as a grant archivist at The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston for two years, served as agency librarian for the Texas Historical Commission for five years, and worked for eight years as the archivist at Scott and White Memorial Hospital in Temple, where she established the archives for the 110-year-old hospital.

Ms. Mears has a master’s degree in library and information science from the University of Texas and a master’s degree in History from Baylor University and is a long-time member of the Academy of Certified Archivists.

Michelle M. Mears

James H. Conrad

"Freedom Colonies: Independent Black Texans in the Time of Jim Crow"

Jim Conrad will present an introduction to the award-winning study he co-authored with Thad Sitton on African American rural communities in Texas. Published by the University of Texas Press, Freedom Colonies explores the triumph of independence these land-owning communities represented during an era noted for oppression and denial of opportunity to African Americans. The Journal of Southern History found the book "a thoughtful and important addition to an understanding of rural Texas" while The Journal of American History praised the authors for making "an important contribution to African American and southern history."

The author of over half-a-dozen books and historical articles too numerous to count, Conrad recently retired after 34 years as University Archivist at Texas A&M University - Commerce. His scholarship often has been cited for its excellence; among his accomplishments are the prestigious Fehrenbach Award, the Lock Award for Best Book on East Texas History, the Dallas Public Library's Award for the Book Making the Most Significant Contribution to Knowledge and the Thomas L. Charlton Lifetime Achievement Award from the Texas Oral History Association. He currently chairs the Hunt County Historical Commission as well as having served on the boards of the Texas Oral History Association and the East Texas Historical Association. Conrad is a long-time friend and supporter of the Audie Murphy / American Cotton Museum as a former president and board member.

The conference is sponsored each year by the Department of History, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Collin College, and the Archives and Oral History Program, Texas A&M University – Commerce. A $10 registration fee includes lunch. Advance reservations may be made by contacting the Audie Murphy/American Cotton Museum, 600 Interstate 30 East, P.O. Box 347, Greenville, Texas 75403. The museum can be reached by telephone at (903) 454-1990 or (903) 450-4502.

Directions to the Museum

Past Cotton and Rural History Conferences

For the past thirteen years the conference has benefited from the generosity of notable and award-winning scholars who have presented their work in the fields of history, folklore, and the oral narrative. They have included J. Brett Adams, Jacques D. Bagur, D. Clayton Brown, Walter Buenger, the late Robert A. Calvert, Jr., Randolph B. "Mike" Campbell, Adrienne Caughfield, Edward Countryman, Pamela Gaiter, Chris Grooms, John Hanners, Paul Harvey, Jr., Karen Gerhardt, Eric Gruver, Susan Lanning, Melissa LaPrelle, Gwendolyn Lawe, John Lundberg, Kay Mizell, Lois E. Myers, Kristopher Paschal, Deborah Porter, Jeri Reed, Debra Reid, Rebecca Sharpless, Thad Sitton, James M. Smallwood, Paul E. Sturdevant, Susanne Summers, Carol Taylor, Sam Tullock, Stephen A. Townsend, Keith Volanto, Jeannie Whayne, Patricia Wingate, Lee Winniford and Dan K. Utley.

Presenters have represented colleges, universities, libraries and museums from across Texas and the nation including the University of Arkansas, Baylor University, Burton Cotton Gin Museum, Collin College, Eastern Illinois University, Hill College, the Heritage Farmstead Museum, the University of Houston, the University of Illinois-Chicago, A. C. McMillan African-American Museum, New Mexico Junior College, the University of North Texas, Oklahoma State University, Paris Junior College, St. Edward's University, Southern Methodist University, Texas A&M University - College Station, Texas A&M University - Commerce, Texas A&M University – Kingsville, Texas Christian University, Texas Woman's University and the Weslaco Bi-Cultural Museum.

Kyle Wilkison and James H. Conrad co-chair the annual event and welcome paper proposals from historians working in the fields of rural, social or agricultural history. Please submit proposals via email to each address listed below:

James H. Conrad, Ph.D.
james_conrad@tamu-commerce.edu
University Archivist
James G. Gee Library
Archives and Oral History Program
P.O. Box 3011
Texas A&M University-Commerce
Commerce, Texas 75429-3011
903-886-5737

Back to History Department

Kyle Wilkison, Ph.D.
Kwilkison@collin.edu
Professor of History
Department of History
Division of Social Sciences
Collin County Community College
Plano, Texas 75074
(972) 881-5834
FAX: (972) 881-5700

Back to Wilkison Home Page