Legacies & Lunch - Complicated Relationships: Commonwealth College, Socialism, and the South

Name: Legacies & Lunch - Complicated Relationships: Commonwealth College, Socialism, and the South
Start: 2025-04-02T12:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-04-02T13:00:00-05:00
Location: 401 President Clinton Ave, Little Rock, AR, United States, Arkansas 72201

Schedule

Wed Apr 02 2025 at 12:00 pm to 01:00 pm

UTC-05:00

Location

401 President Clinton Ave, Little Rock, AR, United States, Arkansas 72201 | Little Rock, AR

Register here: https://events.cals.org/event/13137721
Commonwealth College was an experimental educational institution that for nearly two decades operated near Mena, Arkansas, with the explicit mission to "train modern labor leaders." Although ostensibly nonsectarian, the college gained the reputation of being a hotbed of socialism and its sister ideologies, including communism and Marxism. But was it really? This presentation will reflect on the question of what the history of Commonwealth College can tell us about the place of socialism in the activist traditions of the American South.
Marta Cieslak is a historian and public historian specializing in the transatlantic connections between the United States and Eastern Europe in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Her research focuses on migrations, gender, and social reform movements. She teaches courses in European, U.S., and gender history. She is director of UA Little Rock Downtown, where she leads research and educational projects that focus on the 1935 Joe Jones mural The Struggle in the South, which was originally located at Commonwealth College and is currently housed at UA Little Rock Downtown. She recently published a co-edited volume, with Anna Muller, titled Gender and Nation in East Central Europe: An Uneasy History.
Legacies & Lunch is a hybrid program offering participants the opportunity to attend either in person or virtually via Zoom. To participate in person, join us at - NEW LOCATION - UA Little Rock Downtown (333 President Clinton Ave). Parking is available in the surface lot or the CALS Parking Deck which you can access from Rock Street. Parking will be validated. Bring your lunch; we will provide drinks and cookies. To participate virtually, register for the webinar using the button above. This program will be live-streamed to YouTube and the recording will be available immediately following the event.