FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Contact: Communications Department, (573) 526-0949

Kander Announces Program on Civil War in Missouri

Jefferson City, MO – Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander today announced a program exploring the issue of slavery in Missouri in recognition of African American History month. The program will be held at the Missouri State Archives, a division of his office, on Thursday, February 21, 2013, at 7:00 p.m. Author Diane Mutti-Burke will be discussing her new book, On Slavery’s Border: Missouri's Small Slaveholding Households, 1815-1865.

“On Slavery’s Border” is a bottom-up examination of how slavery and slaveholding in Missouri were influenced by both the geography and scale. By the time of statehood in 1821, people were moving to the area in large numbers, especially from the upper South, hoping to replicate the slave society they left behind. Diane Mutti-Burke focuses on Missouri counties located along the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, investigating small-scale slavery at the household and neighborhood level. She examines such topics as child-rearing and fiscal strategies, the economics of slavery, relations between slaves and owners, the challenges faced by slave families, sociability among enslaved and free Missourians within rural neighborhoods and the disintegration of slavery during the Civil War.

Join us as Mutti-Burke discusses her research, highlighting the social and economic factors that made this troubled period in American history so unique in Missouri.

The Missouri State Archives is the official repository for state documents of permanent historic value, and is located at 600 West Main Street in Jefferson City. All programs at the Archives are free of charge and open to the public, with seating available on a first-come, first-served basis.

For more information on this and other programming at the Archives, contact Emily Luker, (573) 526-5296 or emily.luker@sos.mo.gov.

– 30 –

Visit www.sos.mo.gov to learn more about the Missouri Secretary of State’s Office.

###