The Monroe County Museum to Host an Online Speaker Series

Come learn about Michigan and American history with the Monroe County Museum’s Speaker Series. The series moves online to ensure the safety of all visitors.

The Monroe County Museum is offering an online speaker series from November 2020 until March 2021, giving a platform for authors and experts in history to share their knowledge.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, visitors came to the Monroe County Museum System to learn about the past. Now, the museum is coming to visitors online through their Online Speakers Series. Beginning Thursday, November 12 and continuing ons elect evenings through March 2021, all viewers are welcome to their annual Speaker Series, which will be presented online for the first time. People everywhere can join Monroe citizens online to experience in-person virtual presentations from cutting-edge historians across the U.S. Presenters will share pertinent topics and new scholarship that connects our county’s stories with bigger movements in American history.

“Realizing our mission in service to our community, while keeping everyone safe, presents challenges,” explained Museum Deputy Director JJ Przewozniak. “But in this case,” he continued, “we had two significant opportunities: we could host a more diverse and scholarly group than ever before, and we could really expand our audience. Now, people anywhere can participate with our community.”

Featured in the series is Alex Kershaw, presenting on Thursday, November 19. Kershaw is an honorary colonel in the 116th Infantry Regiment of the 29th Division, and is the widely acclaimed and award-winning author of several New York Times best-selling books about WWII. He has an honorary doctorate in military history and is the director of theNational WWII Memorial in Washington, D.C. An adaptation of his 2012 book, The Liberator, will be released on Netflix on November 11.

Headlining the series is Peter Cozzens, who will be presenting on Thursday, January 21, 2021. He’ll discuss Tecumseh and the Prophet, the first biography of the great Shawnee leader in more than 20 years, and the first to make clear that his misunderstood younger brother, Tenskwatawa, was an equal partner in the last great pan-Indian alliance against the United States. Cozzens is a celebrated author or editor of sixteen acclaimed books in the American Civil War and the Indian Wars of the American West, and he is a member of the Advisory Council of the Lincoln Prize.

Kershaw and Cozzens are part of a group of ten speakers in total, including Ric Mixter, Theodore J. Karamanski, James E. Mueller, and Craig Wilson. 

The next presentation is set to take place on Thursday, November 12 at 6pm. Viewers can watch the online series either through the Monroe County Museum’s Facebook or on their website.

Click here for a full list of presenters and dates.

126 S. Monroe St., Monroe. 734-240-7780. co.monroe.mi.us.

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