“North Carolina Women and Their Contributions” is the theme of Western Carolina University’s annual Gender Conference scheduled for Wednesday, March 18.
Conference presentation topics will include the role of women in Appalachian music, the lives of women of color during slavery times, the Appalachian Women’s Museum Project in Dillsboro, and the current impact of women on North Carolina politics.
The conference will get underway at 9 a.m. in Blue Ridge Hall Conference Room A with a presentation on “Banjo-Pickin’ Girls and Other Music Women of the Western North Carolina Region” by Kevin Kehrberg, chair of the music department at Warren Wilson College. In his talk, Kehrberg will discuss some of the lesser-known female performers who have helped shape traditional music in the region.
A presentation at 10:10 a.m. in Conference Room A, “Worse for Women: North Carolina Women of Color in Slavery Times,” will be given by Lucinda MacKethan, Alumni Distinguished Professor of English Emerita at North Carolina State University. MacKethan will discuss slave women and “free women of color,” as they were known, who fought for their freedom and their families’ freedom long before the Civil War ended.
Laura Boosinger, an award-winning WNC traditional performer, will focus on “The Songbirds of Southern Appalachia: Women and Music” during her presentation at 11:15 a.m. in Conference Room A. Boosinger will discuss the music and stories of the women whose musical impact defined traditional music in the region.
The conference poster session will be held from noon to 1 p.m. in Conference Room A and conference presentations will resume at 1:25 p.m. at the same location with “The Appalachian Women’s Museum Project” featuring Jessie Swigger, director of the public history program in WCU’s Department of History. Swigger will discuss the concept and logistics of the museum, which has a mission to gather, preserve and share the stories of the women of Southern Appalachia. The museum is located on the site of the Monteith farmstead.
The final two conference presentations will be given at WCU’s Mountain Heritage Center. Kathleen B. Balogh, western region director for the North Carolina Council for Women, will discuss the topic “Women: If We Are Not at the Table, We May Be on the Table” at 2:40 p.m. Her talk will be a snapshot of the impact of women on politics, policy and programs and the untapped potential of women in the state.
A gallery talk presented by Pam Meister, interim director and curator of the Mountain Heritage Center, and a reception are scheduled for 3:45 p.m. at the museum. Meister’s interactive gallery tour will highlight the lives and work of women portrayed in a photographic exhibit now on display at the center. Conference participants also will have a chance to network and enjoy refreshments.
The conference is sponsored by WCU’s Department of Psychology and Sociology Program, with support from the offices of the provost and undergraduate studies.
For more information, contact Mickey Randolph in the psychology department at 828-227-3359 or Marilyn Chamberlin the sociology program at 828-227-3839.
By Randall Holcombe