Events & Programs
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History Revealed: Whiteness in Plain View
August 10, 2023 @ 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Whiteness in Plain View: A History of Racial Exclusion in Minnesota
Chad Montrie & James Curry
History Revealed Series
Thursday, August 10, 2023
7:00 pm
In partnership with the East Side Freedom Library and the Roseville Library.
Live presentation on Zoom
Register in advance for this meeting: Zoom Registration Link
Registration is limited. You will receive a confirmation email after registering.
For questions, please email events@rchs.com
In-person attendance: Due to the popularity of this program, we have opened up in-person attendance at the East Side Freedom Library.
See below for the address and a map.
This event will feature two presentations, one by James Curry and the other by Chad Montrie, drawing on their respective interests and projects to address the construction and circulation of white supremacy narratives that poison historical memory and perpetuate racism in Minnesota. Following the presentations, James and Chad will have a brief conversation with one another, and then open that up to questions and comments from the audience.
Chad Montrie is a professor in the History Department at the University of Massachusetts Lowell and has published five books, including Whiteness in Plain View: A History of Racial Exclusion in Minnesota and The Myth of Silent Spring: Rethinking the Origins of American Environmentalism. This past year, he was a Fulbright Canada Research Chair at the University of Calgary, based in the History Department and affiliated with the Calgary Institute for the Humanities.
James Curry is a producer, director, writer, editor, educator and author who has been active in film making for over 30 years. His short film westbound and documentary masterjam have won dozens of awards internationally in multiple categories. In 2021 he was awarded the Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship for Film and in 2022 the Arthur C McWatt Fellowship where he was able to pursue social justice through the creation of an historical exhibit on Black Pioneers and the June release of a graphic novel based on his ancestor’s narrative called “Hate Stings. He is a descendant of the Curry family of Southside Minneapolis and the Chairperson of BR4R.org He teaches film and production at Augsburg University and continues to build community through partnerships with historical societies, individuals and faith-based organizations. He’s presently involved in the development of a Black Heritage Trail in Hastings, a People Power exhibit at the MN African American Heritage Museum and Gallery in September and a volume series on sung and unsung Black Minnesotan luminaries with MNHS slated for a 2026 semiquincentennial release.
The Ramsey County Historical Society, in partnership with the East Side Freedom Library, the Ramsey County Roseville Library and other community organizations, will present a series of programs and events during 2022 that will center on the experiences of indigenous people, African Americans, and immigrants in Ramsey County from the 1800s through the current day, Making Minnesota: Natives, Settlers, Migrants, and Immigrants. These programs focus on the too often lost, erased, forgotten or misrepresented histories and stories of Ramsey County and the state of Minnesota. We expect these presentations to enrich and complicate our understanding of the development of the county and the state that we call home.