Racial violence and police response in Reconstruction-era North Louisiana will be the topic when historian Dr. LeeAnna Keith delivers the keynote address at a symposium on “North Louisiana History and Culture Since the Civil War,” to take place at the Lincoln Parish Library Events Center, 910 N. Trenton Street in Ruston. Admission is free and the public is welcome. Author of “The Colfax Massacre: The Untold Story of Black Power, White Terror and the Death of Reconstruction,” a book praised for reshaping the debate over Reconstruction violence in the South, Keith holds a Ph.D. in history from the University of Connecticut and currently teaches at the Collegiate School in New York City. Keith will speak at 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 15. Her talk is titled, “Police Action and the Politics of White Supremacy in North Louisiana: A Historical Perspective.” The symposium “North Louisiana History and Culture” is made possible by an interdisciplinary enhancement grant from the Louisiana Board of Regents Support Fund. According to Tech history department coordinator Dr. Jeffery R. Hankins, one goal of the series is to showcase a recent surge in research on the North Louisiana region. “There was a time when the story of South Louisiana dominated our historical understanding, but that is now changing,” Hankins said. “North Louisiana has a rich historical and cultural legacy of its own and our purpose here is to highlight the important role the region has played in the history of Louisiana as well as in the history of the South and the nation.” In addition to Keith’s keynote address, nine other presentations are scheduled as part of the symposium. All are set for the parish library events center and all are free and open to the public. CE units for schoolteachers are available upon request. The schedule is as follows: Thursday, October 15, beginning at 1:30 p.m.: • Nicholas Ducote of LaGrande, Oregon, “The Growth of the Forest Products Industry in North-Central Louisiana, 1895 through the Great Depression” • Kent B. Germany of University of South Carolina, “’Do I Really Need to Slug Them?’: LBJ and North Louisiana” • LaGuana K. Gray of University of Texas-San Antonio, “’How Us Women Do’: North Louisiana Women and Their Lived Experience” • Michael G. Wade of Appalachian State University, “Learning to Learn: The North Louisiana Education of Joel Lafayette Fletcher, Jr.” • Kevin Fontenot of Austin, Texas, “’Way Up North Around Shreveport’: The Forgotten Legacy of North Louisiana Music” • Thomas Aiello of Valdosta State University, “North Louisiana Holy Days: Spectacle, Race, and Representation in the Region’s 20th Century Sports” Friday, October 16, beginning at 10:30 a.m. • Donna Barnes of the University of Wyoming, “Race and Class Divides in Louisiana Populism, 1881-1900” • Jerry P. Sanson of Louisiana State University-Alexandria, “North Louisiana’s Huey Long Confronts the Great Depression” • Barry Stentiford of U.S. Army School of Advanced Studies, “The Finest Area I Have Ever Seen for Military Training’: Northern Louisiana During World War II” According to “North Louisiana History and Culture” project director and Louisiana Tech associate professor of history Dr. V. Elaine Thompson, the studies presented during the two-day symposium will be collected and published as a book to appear next year. In addition to the Board of Regents grant, support for “Louisiana History and Culture” is provided by the Louisiana Tech College of Liberal Arts, School of History and Social Science, and School of Literature and Language; Lambda-Rho Chapter, Phi Alpha Theta, History Honor Society, Inc.; the McGinty Trust; and Rosemary’s Kitchen, located at 400 S. Bonner Street. Written by Judith Roberts – jroberts@latech.edu