Annual Reports

Harvey Goldberg Center for the Study of Contemporary History
Biennial Report for Fall 2013 – Summer 2015

Overview of Activities for the period of Fall 2013 to Summer 2015:

The past two years have been the most successful period, to date, for the Goldberg Center in terms of the quantity and quality of scholarly events sponsored by the Center. With thirteen public lectures of leading scholars and personalities, five co-sponsored conferences and workshops, and two publications coming out as part of newly released The Harvey Goldberg Series of Understanding and Teaching History series, the Goldberg Center has now been an established UW institution committed in promoting high quality and socially-conscious scholarship not only from the faculty but more importantly, from the students.

The Goldberg Executive Committee (2013-2015):

• Laird Boswell
• Nan Enstad
• Camille Guerin-Gonzales
• Francine Hirsch
• Will Jones
• Steve Kantrowitz (co-chair)
• Florencia Mallon
• Alfred McCoy (co-chair)
• Tony Michels
• Brenda Gayle Plummer
• Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen
• Francisco Scarano
• Thomas McCormick Jr.
• James Sweet
• Sana Aiyar

Lectures, 2013-2015:

Harry Harootunian, Adjunct Senior Research Scholar at the Weatherhead East Asian Institute at Columbia University and Professor Emeritus of History and East Asian Studies at New York University, gave a talk entitled “Ruins, Remnants and Relics: Rethinking Temporality in an Age of Global Capitalism.” Co-sponsored University Lectures Committee, Department of Art History, Department of Geography, and Department of History, this public lecture was held at the Department of History’s Curti Lounge at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on April 9, 2015.

Joyce White, Director of the Institute for Southeast Asian Archaeology (ISEAA), presented a lecture entitled “Hot Pots, Museum Raids, and the Race to Uncover Asia’s Archaeological Past.” This presentation focused on examples of contested ownership over material artifacts from historical and archaeological heritage sites in Southeast Asia. Co-sponsored with the Department of Anthropology and the Center for Southeast Asian Studies (CSEAS), the event was held at Ingraham Hall at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on March 25, 2015.

Andrea Arai, Lecturer in East Asian Studies at the University of Washington, presenting her talk entitled “Article 9 and the Pacific: The Implications of the Japanese Government’s New Interpretation of its Constitution for the Pacific Region,” as part of the “The Return of the Japanese Military?: Symposium on the Projections for the Pacific Region organized by the East Asian Graduate Student Association . Co-sponsored with the Wisconsin Experience Grant, Wisconsin China Initiative, East Asian Language & Literature, and East Asian Legal Studies Center, this EA Graduate Student Association event was held at Memorial Union at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on March 20, 2015.

Rebecca Karl, Associate Professor in the Dept. of History and Dept. of East Asian Studies at New York University, gave a talk entitled “Semicolonialism and the Economic as Lived Experience in China’s 1930s.” Co-sponsored with the Department of History and Wisconsin China Initiative, the event was held at the Department of History’s Curti Lounge at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on November 7, 2014.

Robert Pollin (UW alumnus, B.A. in History, 1972), Distinguished Professor of Economics and Co-Director of Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, gave the Harvey Goldberg Memorial Lecture entitled “The U.S. Green Energy Transformation: Controlling Climate Change and Expanding Job Opportunities.” This public lecture presented by the Department of History and the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies was held at The Pyle Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on November 6, 2014.

Amy S. Greenberg, Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of History and Women’s Studies at the Pennsylvania State University, presented a talk entitled “The Power of Submission: Sarah Childress Polk and the Origins of American Female Political Conservatism.” Co-sponsored with UW-Madison Center for the Humanities, this public lecture was held at the Department of History’s Curti Lounge at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on October 16, 2014.

Casey Nelson Blake, Professor of History at the Columbia University, took part in a brown lunch event entitled “Historians as Critics” together with William P. Jones and Tony Michels of the UW History Department. The event was held at the Department of History’s Curti Lounge at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on May 1, 2014.

Casey Nelson Blake, Professor of History at the Columbia University, gave a public lecture on “Art as Public Experience: From John Dewey to Allan Kaprow and Siah Armajani.” Co-sponsored with the Department of Art History and the Merle Curti Chair Funds, the event was held at the Elvehjem Building at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on April 30, 2014.

Jacques Bidet, Professor Emeritus at the University of Paris-Nanterre, Directeur honoraire of journal Actuel Marx, Paris-PUF, President of the Congres Marx International (Paris), gave a public lecture entitled “A Critical History of Socio-Political Modernity: Foucault, Marx and the Project of Human Emancipation.” The presentation focused on Bidet’s theory of modernity in terms of three layers – organization, market and a world system of nation-states. Co-sponsored with the A. E. Havens Center for the Study of Social Structure & Social Change, the Institute for Research in the Humanities, the University Lectures Committee, Department of European Languages & Literatures, and Department of History, the event was held at the Department of History’s Curti Lounge at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on April 8, 2014.

Eleni Varikas, Professor Emerita of Political Theory and Gender Studies at the Université Paris, gave a talk entitled “An Endless Series of Catastrophes’ Hannah Arendt, Rosa Luxemburg & the Question of Plurality.” The event, co-sponsored with the Havens Center for Social Justice, the event was held at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on March 26, 2014.

Jane Kamensky, Harry S. Truman Professor of American Civilization at Brandeis University, gave a public lecture entitled “Copley’s American War” held at the Department of History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on March 3, 2014.

Max Brooks, author of Zombie Armageddon and son of writer-director Mel Brooks, presented a public talk entitled “Apocalyptic Fiction as Social & Political Commentary” and gave an informal presentation in Prof. John Sharpless’ History 600 course – From Revelation to Zombies: Apocalyptic Prophesies in Western Histories. Co-sponsored with Wisconsin Union and Department of History, the main public event was held at Union South at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on December 3, 2013.

James C. Scott, Sterling Professor of Political Science, Professor of Anthropology, and Director of Agrarian Studies at Yale University, gave three public lectures at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Scott’s first lecture was entitled “Early Stages: The Golden Age of Barbarians,” October 24, 2013. His second talk was part of the Hilldale Lecture Series entitled “Four domestications: fire, plants, animals and us, or the late neolithic multi-species resettlement camp” held at UW Memorial Union on October 24, 2013. Scott’s third lecture entitled “Some histories of state evasion in Southeast Asia and elsewhere” was for the Center of Southeast Asian Studies Friday Forum held at Ingraham Hall at the University of Wisconsin on October 25, 2013.

Workshops / Symposiums, 2013-2015:

• Event co-sponsored with the Center for East Asian Studies, The China Initiative, East Asian Legal Studies Center, and the Dept. of East Asia Language and Literature.

“Rethinking East Asian Modernity: The Place of Cigarettes and Foreign Tobacco Companies in China” was the second workshop in the bi-annual East Asian Connections series; Panelists included Carol Benedict, chair of the Department of History at Georgetown University, and Nan Enstad (UW-Madison, History), October 23-24, 2014.

• Event co-sponsored with Wisconsin China Initiative.

“Symposium on the 50th Anniversary of the Military Coup in Brazil” was held at the Pyle Conference Center; Presenters included Rebecca Atencio (Tulane University, Brazilian Literary and Cultural Studies), Luca Bacchini (University of Bologna, Brazilian Literature), Peter Beattie (Michigan State University, History), Jerry Dávila (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, History), Chris Dunn (Tulane University, History), Marc Hertzman (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, History), Peter Kornbluh (Senior Analyst at the National Security Archive), Victoria Langland (University of Michigan, History and Romance Languages & Literatures), and Leila Lehnen (University of New Mexico, Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies), April 3-4, 2014.

• Event co-sponsored with the Brazilian Initiative of the Division of International Studies, LACIS (The Latin American, Caribbean and Iberian Studies Program), and the Latin American History Program of the History Dept.

2nd Program in Gender and Women’s History conference – “Material Bodies/Contested Fantasies: A Graduate Student Conference” – keynote speakers Elizabeth Heineman (University of Iowa, Director of Graduate Studies and Professor of History) and Victoria Langland (University of Michigan, History and Romance Languages & Literatures), February 21-22, 2014.

• Event co-sponsored with History Department and the Dept. of Gender and Women’s Studies and the Material Cultures Program

Publications, 2013-2015:

The Harvey Goldberg Series of Understanding and Teaching History

Click links – Goldberg Series (list of publication) and UW Press (for more info about the Harvey Goldberg Series)

• Understanding and Teaching U.S. Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and, and Transgender History. Edited by Leila J. Rupp and Susan K. Freeman. Madison, WI: The University of Wisconsin Press, December 2014.

• Understanding and Teaching the Vietnam War. Edited by John Day Tully, Matthew Masur, and Brad Austin. Madison, WI: The University of Wisconsin Press, October 2013.

Harvey Goldberg Center for the Study of Contemporary History
Biennial Report for Fall 2011 – Summer 2013

Overview of Activities, for the period of Fall 2011 to Summer 2013:

The significant increase in the number of public lectures co-sponsored by the Goldberg Center (eleven public lectures for fall 2011 to summer 2013, compared to the four lectures for the period of fall 2009 to summer 2011) has continued to validate the importance of the Center in fostering intellectual curiosity and critical discussions of pressing issues across disciplines. With a diverse line-up of scholarship being presented during the course of the past two years, the Goldberg Center upholds its mission with vigor and deep commitment.

The Goldberg Executive Committee (2011-2013):

• Laird Boswell
• Nan Enstad
• Camille Guerin-Gonzales
• Francine Hirsch
• Will Jones
• Steve Kantrowitz (co-chair)
• Florencia Mallon
• Alfred McCoy (co-chair)
• Tony Michaels
• Brenda Gayle Plummer
• Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen
• Francisco Scarano
• Miranda Johnson
• Sana Aiyar
• Thomas McCormick Jr.

Lectures, 2011-2013:

Luise White, Professor of African History at the University of Florida, gave a talk entitled “‘Racial Representation of the Worst Sort’: Southern Rhodesia’s 1957 franchise commission, citizenship, and the problem of polygynous wives.” This talk drew from White’s book project on the history of the African franchise in Rhodesia focusing on the issues of citizenship and the debates about granting vote to the wives of polygynous men. Co-sponsored with the Distinguished Lecturers’ Committee, Department of History, Department of History of Medicine, and the African Studies Program, this event was held at the Memorial Library at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on February 28, 2013.

Jim Downs, Associate Professor of History at Connecticut College, gave a talk entitled “Dying to Be Free: The Health Conditions of Freed Slaves During the Civil War and Reconstruction,” as part of the UW-Madison’s Center for the Humanities’ “Emancipation” speakers’ series in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. Co-sponsored with the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, the event was held at the Memorial Library at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on February 26, 2013.

Vina A. Lanzona (UW alumna, Ph.D in History, 2000), Associate Professor of History and Director of the Center for Philippine Studies at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, presented a lecture entitled “Engendering Counterinsurgency: The Battle to Win ‘Hearts and Minds’ of Women during the Huk Rebellion in the Philippines,” as part of the Sociology of Gender’s “Femsem Colloquium.” Co-sponsored with the Center for Research on Gender & Women, Department of Gender & Women’s Studies, Department of Sociology, and the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, this event was held in the Sewell Social Sciences Building at the University of Wisconsin on November 1, 2012.

Andrew Hartman, Associate Professor of History at Illinois State University, gave a talk entitled “A Trojan Horse of Social Engineering: The Curriculum Wars in Recent American History.” Co-sponsored with the School of Education’s Department of Curriculum and Instruction and Department of Educational Policy Studies, this event was held at the Education Building at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on October 11, 2012.

Bruce Kuklick, Professor of History at the University of Pennsylvania, presented a lecture entitled “Death in the Congo: Killing Patrice Lumumba.” The presentation focused on Kuklick’s (in collaboration with Emmanuel Gerard) forthcoming book on the assassination of Patrice Lumumba, the first Prime Minister of the Republic of the Congo. Co-sponsored with African Studies Program, this event was held at Ingraham Hall at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on September 11, 2012.

Joanne Pottlitzer, NAVE visiting scholar, freelance playwright and director, gave a talk entitled “Symbols of Resistance: The Legacy of Artists Under Pinochet.” Co-sponsored with the Latin-American, Caribbean & Iberian Studies (LACIS) Program, the NAVE Fund, Department of Spanish and Portuguese Studies, and the Center for Humanities, this event was held at the Social Science Building at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on April 25, 2012.

Darryl Holter, a musician, historian and labor organizer from Los Angeles, presented a public lecture entitled “Woody Guthrie in Los Angeles, 1937-1941.” Co-sponsored with the Havens Center, the Labor & Working Class Studies Project, and Comparative U.S. Studies (CUSS) Cluster, this event was held at the Mosse Humanities Building at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on April 23, 2012.

Richard Wightman Fox, Professor of History at the University of Southern California and the First Annual Curti Visiting Scholar in US Intellectual and Cultural History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, presented a public lecture entitled “Memory-Making on the Ground: Elevating Lincoln to Civic Sainthood in the Spring of 1865” as part of the “Lived Inquiry” Mellon Workshop. Co-sponsored with the Center for Humanities, Department of History, Comparative U.S. Studies (CUSS) Cluster, “Lived Inquiry” Mellon Workshop/Center for Humanities, and the Merle Curti Intellectual and Cultural History Chair funds, this event was held at the University Club at the University of Wisconsin on April 12, 2012.

Jeremy Popkin, T. Marshall Hahn Professor of History at University of Kentucky, presented a public talk entitled “Haiti and the Age of Revolution.” Co-sponsored with the Department of History, this event was held at the Department of History’s Curti Lounge at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on March 12, 2012.

Kenneth MacLean, Professor of International Development and Social Change Program at Clark University, gave a public lecture as part of the UW-Madison Center for Southeast Asian Studies (CSEAS) Friday Forum lecture series entitled “Digital Patriots: Hacking in the Defense of the Vietnamese Nation.” Co-sponsored with CSEAS, this event was held at Ingraham Hall at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on February 17, 2012.

Kathryn Robinson, Professor of Anthropology at Australian National University, gave a talk at the UW-Madison Center for Southeast Asian Studies Friday Forum entitled “Modalities of propagation of Islam in the Sulawesi Interior: Lessons for Understanding Islamization in Eastern Indonesia?” Co-sponsored with CSEAS, this event was held at Ingraham Hall at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on November 11, 2011.

Workshops / Symposiums, 2011-2013:

“The Question of Zionism: A Symposium on the Left and Its Relationship to Israel” Three renowned scholars gave lectures and participated in a roundtable discussion that included Mitchell Cohen (Baruch College, Political Science), Moishe Postone (University of Chicago, History), and Barbara Epstein (University of California-Santa Cruz, History of Consciousness). This event was held at UW-Madison on April 19, 2012.

• Click here for more information on this symposium.

Publications, 2011-2013:

McCoy, Alfred W. (ed.) Endless Empire: Spain’s Retreat, Europe’s Eclipse, America’s Decline. Madison, WI: The University of Wisconsin Press, 2012.

Harvey Goldberg Center for the Study of Contemporary History
Biennial Report for July 2009 – September 2011

Overview of Activities, for the period of Fall 2009 to Summer 2011:

Since 2001, the Harvey Goldberg Center has continued to support innovative, socially conscious scholarship through subventions and honorariums for public lectures, conferences, and classroom visits to Madison. With its income of about $ 4,000 from the generous donations of alumni and supporters, the Goldberg Center has remained true to Prof. Harvey Goldberg’s dynamic and innovative approach in promoting intellectual dialogue on historical and contemporary issues impacting our society today.

Among the highlighted events co-sponsored by the Goldberg Center included the month-long event composed of series of film showings and public lectures by well-renowned filmmaker and UW alumnus, Errol Morris. Another important long-term project that the Goldberg Center has undertaken is the “U.S. Empire Project” that drew interest and active engagement from leading scholars across the globe. In June 2010, the “U.S. Empire Project” working group organized a conference in Barcelona, Spain to discuss the decline of empires. The papers presented were compiled and published in 2012. The compilation, edited by Alfred W. McCoy, Josep M. Fradera, and Stephen Jacobson, was entitled “Endless Empire: Spain’s Retreat, Europe’s Eclipse, America’s Decline.”

The Goldberg Executive Committee (2009-2011):

• Laird Boswell
• Nan Enstad
• Camille Guerin-Gonzales
• Francine Hirsch
• William Jones
• Steve Kantrowitz (co-chair)
• Florencia Mallon
• Alfred McCoy (co-chair)
• Tony Michaels
• Brenda Gayle Plummer
• Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen
• Francisco Scarano
• Jeremy Suri
• Thomas McCormick Jr.
• D. McDonald
• S. Kutler
• S. Kantrow

Lectures, 2009-2011:

Leon Fink, Distinguished Professor of History at University of Illinois-Chicago, presented a public lecture entitled “Cooperation and Cash: How a Global Transport Union Learned to Love Globalization.” Co-sponsored with the Havens Center, and Comparative U.S. Studies (CUSS) Cluster, this event was held at the Mosse Humanities Building at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on November 4, 2010.
Errol Morris (UW alumnus, B.A. in History, 1969), renowned documentary filmmaker, gave a series of talks about his works as part of the event “Elusive Truths: The Cinema of Errol Morris” that included a symposium and film screening of all nine of his feature films through the UW Cinematheque. Co-sponsored with the History Department, and the Communications Arts Department, the event was held at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on October 21, 2010.

Heraldo Muñoz, Chilean Ambassador to the United Nations, presented a lecture entitled “From Dictatorship to the Security Council: A Political Memoir.” Co-sponsored with the Center for World Affairs and the Global Economy (WAGE), LACIS’ Nave Fund, Division of International Studies, the Political Science Department, the Human Rights Initiative, the Dane County Chapter of the United Nations, and the University Bookstore, this event was held in the University Club Main Dining Room at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on October 26, 2009.

Andrew J. Bacevich, Professor of International Relations and History at Boston University, gave a lecture at the Wisconsin Book Festival entitled “The Enduring Relevance of the Wisconsin School: What William A. Williams Got Right and Where He Went Wrong.” Co-sponsored with the Wisconsin Book Festival and the History Department, this event was held in Madison’s Overture Center on October 10, 2009.

Workshops / Symposiums, 2009-2011:

The Elusive Truth: The Cinema of Errol Morris: From September 4 to October 22, 2010, the Goldberg Center co-sponsored the very successful ‘A Year of the Arts’ Marque Event which highlighted the films and other works by a well-known American documentary filmmaker and UW-Madison’s History Department alumnus – Mr. Errol Morris. This month-long event included series of film screenings and two public lectures by Mr. Morris entitled “Elusive Truths: Filmmaking & Politics” (21 October 2010) and “Photography & Truth” (22 October 2010). In addition, during his brief visit to Madison and his alma mater, Mr. Morris had TV interviews and a classroom visit where he addressed History Prof. Jeremi Suri’s undergraduate class to talk about his time in UW-Madison as a history student.

“Eclipse of Empires: Colonial Resistance, Metropolitan Decline, and Imperial Crises in the XIX and XX Centuries” In June 2010, the U.S. Empire Project working group has convened another three-day international conference at Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, Spain. This conference brought together 30 leading scholars from Australia, America, Asia and Europe to interrogate the dynamics of decline among five global empires – British, French, Portuguese Spanish, and American. A compilation volume of conference papers published in 2012 edited by Alfred W. McCoy, Josep M. Fradera, and Stephen Jacobson entitled “Endless Empire: Spain’s Retreat, Europe’s Eclipse, America’s Decline.”

• For more information on the conference and the U.S. Empire Project, click here.
• For more information on the conference visit the U.S. Empire Project Page.

Harvey Goldberg Center for the Study of Contemporary History
Biennial Report for July 2007 – September 2009

Overview of Activities, 2007 to 2009:

Over the past two years the Harvey Goldberg Center has continued to support innovative, socially conscious scholarship through subventions and honorariums for public lectures, conferences, and classroom visits to Madison. Among the events supported from summer 2007 to fall 2009 included Marceline Kongolo-Bice’s compelling lectures on the crises facing women in the Congo and Noam Chomsky’s engaging campus visit following the latest Gaza crisis. These and other lectures attempted to promote dialogue on some of the most pressing and controversial of contemporary issues, as Harvey Goldberg himself directed in his bequest some twenty years ago.

As detailed below, the Goldberg Center was particularly proud to be the primary sponsor for a major international conference on modern Chinese history to honor emeritus UW-Madison historian Maurice Meisner, who is the Harvey Goldberg Professor of History (emeritus). This conference represents the fourth major symposium sponsored primarily by the Goldberg Center since 2002, representing a substantial record of activity by what remains a relatively small university unit.

Apart from these public events, the Center completed a long-term project of assembling, digitizing, and archiving the “bootleg tapes” of Harvey Goldberg’s lectures in his famed “Contemporary Civilizations” course of the 1970s, detailed on the Center’s Internet home page. The public response to the release of these lectures in Compact Disk (CD) format has been strong, and sales have recovered costs and returned significant revenues to the Center for use in future public events.

The Goldberg Executive Committee for much of this period was:

Laird Boswell
Nan Enstad
Camille Guerin-Gonzales
Francine Hirsch
Will Jones
Steve Kantrowitz (co-chair)
Florencia Mallon
Alfred McCoy (co-chair)
Tony Michaels
Brenda Gayle Plummer
Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen
Francisco Scarano

Maurice J. Meisner China Conference: June 4-7, 2009

“Reflections on History and Contemporary Change in China Before and After Tiananmen”

In June 2009, the Goldberg Center was the primary sponsor for a major international conference at UW-Madison honoring the long-serving China historian Maurice Meisner, the Harvey Goldberg Professor of History (emeritus). His many books on modern Chinese history include: The Deng Xiaoping Era: An Inquiry into the Fate of Chinese Socialism, 1978-1994 (1996) Mao’s China and After: A History of the People’s Republic, Third Edition (1999), Li Ta-Chao and the Origins of Chinese Marxism (2008). In 2007, he also published an authoritative biography of Mao entitled: Mao Zedong: A Political and Intellectual Portrait. More than a dozen of Dr. Meisner’s former students, all now faculty and several holders of distinguish university chairs, presented papers to celebrate his scholarship and career. This focused, thoughtful, and timely conference took place on the 20th anniversary of Tiananmen Square, a fitting moment to reevaluate radical revolution in modern China and expand on Dr. Meisner’s important work in the field.

The conference took place over the course of four days with a variety of specialist speakers, discussants, and chairs, most of whom have worked closely with Maurice Meisner as either students or colleagues. The main organizing committee was composed of: Tina Chen of University of Manitoba, Thomas D. Lutze of Illinois Wesleyan University, Catherine L. Lynch of Eastern Connecticut State University, Robert B. Marks of Whittier College, Dreux Montgomery of the UW Center for East Asia Studies, and Paul Pickowicz of the University of California-San Diego. All of these committee members are past students of Dr. Meisner.

On the first day of the conference, June 5, 2009, Chair Paul G. Pickowicz presided over papers by Tina Chen, who presented on “Maoism, Gender, and the ‘Three Worlds’: Rethinking Women’s Liberation in China through the Lens of Maoism as Global Struggle” and Lee Feigon on “Mao and Tibet: The Image of Marxism Versus the Image of the Other.” Stanley Kutler chaired the next set of papers, including Robert Marks’, “Deforestation and Environmental Degradation in Modern China” and Bruce Cumings’, “On the Incessant, Tumescent Metaphor: ‘The Rise of China.’” That afternoon Marilyn Young presented on “The U.S. and China: Once and Future Enemies” and Wu Shu-chin discussed “Death, Time, History: Li Dazhao and the Rise of Modern Chinese Radicalism” with Robert Marks chairing the discussion. Thomas Lutze chaired as Lisa Brennan presented on “Revolutionary Cinema: Radical Images in Early Chinese Film” and Steven Davidson spoke on “Transcendence, Revelation, and Millennialism at the End of the Han.”

The second morning, on June 6, began with Catherine Lynch chairing as Paul G. Pickowicz presented his work on “‘Seeing’ China’s Rural Crisis: Local Underground Film and the Not-Usually-Visible” and Thomas Lutze discussed “Postsocialist Capitalism: The Political Economy of Reform-Era China.” Chair Thomas McCormick oversaw discussion of Catherine Lynch’s paper “Euchronia in Twentieth Century China” and Sooyoung Kim’s “Back to Mr. Democracy: The Last Years of Chen Duxiu.” Finally, Tina Chen facilitated discussion for three papers: Carl Riskin’s “The Future of Inequality in China” and Lin Chun’s “Paradoxes of the Maoist Developmental Strategy” and Yan Haiping’s, “The Ding Ling Story: Rethinking the Chinese Revolutions.” The last two paper authors were also not able to attend.
On the concluding day Tina Chen led an open discussion on the key themes in conference papers and the possibility of producing a conference volume. Robert Marks also provided summary remarks, reflecting on his graduate career with Maurice Meisner.

Conference Sponsors: Harvey Goldberg Center, UW Anonymous Fund, Center for East Asian Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison, History Department, University of Wisconsin-Madison, UC San Diego Modern Chinese History Endowed Chair, Deihl Professor of History, Whittier College

Goldberg Sponsored Lectures, June 2007 – October 2009

Past Events: June 2007 to September 2009

George Lipsitz: Lecture, September 20, 2007 

In September 2007 the Goldberg Center co-sponsored an interdisciplinary lecture through the English Department by UW-Madison alumnus George Lipsitz on “Why American Studies Matters: Speaking Truth to Power in the Midnight Hour”. Dr. Lipsitz is Professor of Black Studies at the University of California-Santa Barbara and also serves as chairman of the board of directors of the African American Policy Forum. He is the author of numerous books, including: American Studies in a Moment of Danger (2001), The Possessive Investment in Whiteness: How White People Profit from Identity Politics (1998, republished 2006), and most recently, Footsteps in the Dark: The Hidden Histories of Popular Music (2007).

This event was also funded by the Anonymous Fund and American Studies Collective.

Dorothea Browder: Lecture, May 6, 2008

On Tuesday May 6, 2008 Dorothea Browder, professor of History at Western Kentucky University, gave a talk hosted by the Gender and Women’s History Program and the Goldberg Center. Her talk was entitled “From Uplift to Agitation: Working Women, Race, and Coalition in the YWCA Industrial Program, 1908-1950.” Approximately 45 people were in attendance, including Gerda Lerner. Browder was a Lerner fellow when she was a student in the program, and this talk was to honor Professor Lerner and her generous gift of the Lerner fellowship. A reception, also funded by the History Department, followed.

Micheline Ishay: Lecture, October 27, 2008 

As part of the Fall 2008 Human Rights lecture series, the Goldberg Center worked in cooperation with the UW-Madison Human Rights Initiative to host a campus lecture by Historian Micheline Ishay. Dr. Ishay is Professor and Director of the International Human Rights Program at the University of Denver. Her most recent book, The History of Human Rights: From Ancient Times to the Globalization Era (2008), has been highly influential in the field of human rights studies.

Dr. Ishay’s campus lecture was entitled “Back to the Future? The 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.” According to one event organizer: “The room in Ingraham Hall was packed with undergraduates, graduate students and faculty. Ishay spoke for about an hour and then engaged her audience in (at times contentious) give-and-take. Her message was one of general optimism–and was a call to action and activism.”

This event was further sponsored by the International Institute, the Global Studies Department, and the Division of International Studies.

Ana Matiella Bacigalupo: Lecture, December 1-3, 2008

The Goldberg Center co-sponsored several lectures by Ana Mariella Bacigalupo, professor of Anthropology at University of Buffalo, on Chilean Mapuche shamans and resistance in Chile. After receiving both her B.A. and M.A. from the Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago she went on to received a second M.A. and a Ph.D. in anthropology at UCLA in 1994. Dr. Bacigalupo is the author of Shamans of the Foye Tree: Gender, Power, and Healing among Chilean Mapuche (2007).
Her first talk at the Anthropology colloquium on December 1st addressed the topic of “Forgetting and the Willful Transformation of Memory: The Death and Rebirth of a Mapuche Shaman in Chile.” Dr. Bacigalupo also lectured at Helen White Hall on December 3rd on “The Gendered Shamanization of Mapuche Politics: Resistance and Negotiation with the Chilean State” as a contributor to the Gender and Women’s History workshop.

These lectures were also sponsored by the NAVE Visiting Scholars and Artists Fund, the Program in Gender and Women’s History, the Department of Anthropology, and American Indian Studies.

Marceline Kongo-Bice: Lectures, March 30-31, 2009

The Goldberg Center co-sponsored a UW-Madison campus visit by Marceline Kongolo-Bice of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Growing up in the Congo, Ms. Kongolo-Bice witnessed systematic violence against women in the Congo wars. At the age of 18, Marceline, herself a survivor imprisonment, displacement, and violence, began dedicating her life to supporting and empowering rape victims. She founded SOS Femmes en Dangers in 2003, an NGO dedicated to supporting the recovery of victims of sexual violence in the Congo, and in 2009 she was honored with an award by the Washington-based Vital Voices Global Partnership for her humanitarian work.

On March 30, 2009 Ms. Kongolo-Bice traveled to Madison where she shared her experiences with Neil Kodesh’s History 377 class in a guest lecture entitled “Gender and Violence in the Eastern DRC”. In a second lecture at Ingraham Hall she spoke to a public audience on “SOS: Women at Risk in Congo Wars.”

In addition to Goldberg support, these events were co-sponsored by the Gender and International Policy Research Center, Women’s Studies Research Center, Transnational Applied Research in Gender Equity Training project, African Studies Program, Human Rights Initiative, Division of International Studies, and the Center for Interdisciplinary French Studies.

Robert Whitney: Lecture, April 3, 2009

In cooperation with the Latin American, Caribbean, & Iberian Studies’ NAVE Fund, the Harvey Goldberg Center co-sponsored a campus lecture by Robert W. Whitney, associate professor of International Studies and History at the University of New Brunswick, St. John, Canada and a specialist in the twentieth-century Latin American and Cuban history. He received his B.A. and M.A. from the University of Alberta and earned his Ph.D. in Latin American History from Queen’s University in Canada in 1996. In addition to a myriad of articles and book chapters, Prof. Whitney’s book, State and Revolution in Cuba: Mass Mobilization and Political Change, 1920-1940 (2000) is scheduled to be released in a Spanish edition this year.

Professor Whitney addressed an audience at the Mosse Humanities Building on the subject of: “British Subjects and ‘Pichones’ in Cuba: The British West Indian Diaspora and Cuban Nationalism, 1920-1960.” Event organizers, including History Department Professor Franco Scarano, provided the following testimonial on the important intellectual contribution of the event:

Testimonial

“We evaluate that Robert Whitney’s contribution had a very positive and intellectually stimulating impact on our community. On Friday, Whitney gave a presentation on the current research he conducts on Cuban nationalism, which challenges past and current Havana-centric literature produced on the myth of what it means to be Cuban. Examining eastern communities of British West Indian descent, Whitney argues that, in fact, pluralist and multi-ethnic forms of national identity pervades the island. Furthermore, Whitney had previously sent a written text of his presentation for circulation ends. Some students had read the essay prior to the event, which contributed to engage his work with more depth. Whitney’s presentation was engaging and insightful. Obviously passionate about his work, Whitney enthusiastically welcomed comments and excitedly engaged students’ questions. In the afternoon, our usual seminar on Caribbean historiography allowed us to go deeper into critical feedback and dialogue. During two hours, we discussed, reflected upon, and challenged Whitney’s arguments, placing them in comparison with readings that we had done in the course of the semester.”
–Event organizers

Event also sponsored by the Latin American, Caribbean and Iberian Studies Program (LACIS).

Noam Chomsky: Lectures, April 7, 2009

Following the Gaza crisis in early spring, 2009, the Goldberg Center co-funded the campus visit of famed political activist and prolific author Noam Chomsky. Prof. Chomsky is Professor Emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and through his many books, articles, and films he has been a vociferous critic of U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. Two of his most recent publications include: What We Say Goes: Conversations on U.S. Power in a Changing World (2007) and Hegemony or Survival: America’s Quest for Global Dominance (2004).

In addition to a public lecture at the Orpheum theater on “Israel-Palestine from Bush to Obama: Assessing the role of US Foreign Policy, Israeli Security Concerns and Human Rights in the OPTs” Dr. Chomsky came to campus to speak with a combined history class on human rights, U.S. policy, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Class lecturer Dreux Montgomery, director of the UW-Madison Center for East Asian Studies, provided the following reflection on the visit’s success:

Testimonial
“On April 7, 2009, Professor Noam Chomsky attended a combined session of History 342: History of the People’s Republic of China, and History 456: The Pacific War in 1800 Engineering Hall. There were approximately 100 students present for the class. Before the class Professor Chomsky had indicated a preference for a discussion-style format over a prepared talk. Accordingly the students had been instructed to prepare questions prior to coming, with a request they pay particular attention to issues concerning the US entry into the Pacific War, the origins of the Korean War, the Taiwan straits, Nixon’s visit to China, and other issues relevant to the history of US foreign policy in Asia. Discussion was spirited and lasted for the full-allotted time of 75 minutes. Interviews with students afterwards revealed a high degree of satisfaction with the guest lecture.” -Lecturer Dreux Montgomery, Center for East Asian Studies at UW-Madison

Martin Espada: Lectures April 30-MAY 1, 2009

In keeping with the mission of the Harvey Goldberg Center to fund innovative, unconventional scholarship, the Center was pleased to co-sponsor a poetry reading and two discussion sessions by political poet and UW-Madison alumnus Dr. Martin Espada. Since graduating from the University of Wisconsin with a B.A. in history in 1981, Martin Espada has become a renowned essayist, poet, and humanist, and is currently professor of English at the University of Massachusetts- Amherst. Author of more than a dozen books, including A Mayan Astronomer in Hell’s Kitchen: Poems (2001), Dr. Espada engages in edgy social commentary on contemporary society. In addition to his numerous book awards and prizes, his latest release, The Republic of Poetry: Poems (2006), was honored as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry in 2007.

His first presentation in Madison, “Poetry of the Political Imagination,” took place at the Pyle Center the evening of April 30, 2009. Espada electrified the overflow crowd with radical poetry delivered with humanity, humor, and a powerful voice. He also returned to the History Department for two interactive brown bag discussions on “The Redemption of Pablo Neruda” and “Colonialism and the Poetry of Rebellion.”

These events were also sponsored by the Center for the Humanities, the Vice-Provost Office, the Office of Multicultural Arts Initiatives, the Department of History, Latin American, Caribbean, Iberian Studies, the Comparative US Cultures Cluster, and Chican@ & Latin@ Studies Program.

Andrew J Bacevich: Lecture, October, 10, 2009

The Goldberg Center co-sponsored two timely lectures by distinguished historian Andrew J. Bacevich, author of numerous publications on American foreign policy, including The New American Militarism: How Americans Are Seduced by War, American Empire: The Realities and Consequences of U. S. Diplomacy and most recently, The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism. Dr. Bacevich is Professor of History and International Studies at Boston University where he also served as director of the Center for International Relations from 1998 to 2005. A West Point graduate and retired Army colonel, Dr. Bacevich received his PhD in U.S. diplomatic history from Princeton University.

The Wisconsin Veterans Museum hosted the first lecture, titled “Sacred Trinity: US National Security Policy during the American Century,” which drew a crowd of approximately 120 people. The Wisconsin Book Festival sponsored the second lecture in which Dr. Bacevich spoke on “The Enduring Relevance of the Wisconsin School: What William A. Williams Got Right and Where He Went Wrong.” This event, whichtook place at Promenade Hall inside the Overture Center, drew an audience of about 150. At this latter event, Dr. Bacevich argued that while William A. Williams misjudged the future of a worldwide socialist revolution, he nonetheless understood his own country and its imperial trajectory well. Dr. Bacevich’s talk was also accompanied by commentary by Dr. Alfred W. McCoy and Dr. Paul Buhle was followed by a lively question and answer session. This second session was taped by Wisconsin Public Television for later broadcast and webcast.

Dr. Buhle is Senior Lecturer in the History and American Civilization Departments at Brown University and is the co-author of Williams’ biography, The Tragedy of Empire: Biography of William Appleman Williams. He graduated with his PhD in History from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1975.

Dr. McCoy is J.R.W. Smail Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is the co-editor of “Colonial Crucible: Empire in the Making of the Modern American State” a compilation volume dedicated to Williams. Dr. McCoy received his Ph.D. in History from Yale in 1977. His latest book is Policing America’s Empire: The United States, the Philippines, and the Rise of the Surveillance State.

These events were co-sponsored by the Wisconsin Book Festival, the Veterans Museum, the Center for World Affairs and the Global Economy (WAGE), the Grand Strategy Program, the Wisconsin Alumni Association (WAA), and the UW-Madison History Department.

Heraldo Munoz: Lecture, October 26, 2009

The Center co-funded a talk by Heraldo Munoz, Chilean Ambassador to the United Nations, entitled “From Dictatorship to the Security Council: A Political Memoir.” Heraldo Muñoz spoke about his experiences working under the Allende government in the 1970’s and subsequent position as the head of the United Nations Security Council during the US invasion of Iraq post-9/11.

The event took place at the University Club in the main dining room where about 90 people were in attendance. Ambassador Munoz was welcomed by Gilles Bousquet, Dean of the Division of International Studies and introduced by Steve Stern, History Professor and current Vice-Provost. The Ambassador’s lecture was extremely interesting and well-received. He took questions for about 20 minutes and then engaged in a book signing (books were supplied by the University Bookstore).

This event was also sponsored by the Center for World Affairs and the Global Economy (WAGE), LACIS’ Nave Fund, Division of International Studies, the Political Science Department, the Human Rights Initiative, the Dane County Chapter of the United Nations, and the University Bookstore.

Jeffery Perry: Lecture, October 29, 2009

The Goldberg Center co-sponsored an engaging presentation by independent scholar and working-class activist Jeffrey Perry on his recent biography, “Hubert Harrison: The Voice of Harlem Radicalism, 1883-1918.” This event took place in 1651 Humanities, a lecture hall in the George Mosse building. Approximately 60 people attended, including History department faculty, graduate students, undergraduate students, and members of the public. The presentation was also followed by an animated Q&A session.

A largely forgotten but influential African American radical, Hubert Harrison spent his life working against white supremacy and dedicating himself to the causes of anti-imperialism, black nationalism and international socialism. Born in St. Croix in 1883, Harrison came to New York in 1900 where he encountered lynchings and race riots for the first time. Harrison, a brilliant autodidact, became a prolific writer, editor, and stump speaker on both race and class concerns. He campaigned for Eugene Debs before splitting with the Socialist Party over what he viewed as the importance of racial equality in addition to worker’s rights. Harrison was in many ways, Jeffery Perry argued, the direct intellectual forbearer of such black intellectuals as Marcus Garvey, A. Philip Randolph, and Malcolm X.

This event was also sponsored by Rainbow Book Cooperative, The Havens Center, The History Department, and the Afro-American Studies Department.

Fred Ho: Lectures, Forum, and Performances, November 4-6, 2009

The Goldberg Center co-sponsored a series of innovative events surrounding a campus visit by writer-activist-musician Fred Ho. Fred Ho is the co-author of several books including Legacy to Liberation: Politics and Culture of Revolutionary Asian Pacific America (2000), Sounding Off! Music as Subversion/ Resistance/ Revolution (1996). His latest book is Wicked Theory, Naked Practice: The Fred Ho Reader (2009). Fred Ho has been widely recognized for his work including, most recently, receiving the Harvard Arts Medal from his alma mater.

Events kicked off on Wednesday, November 4 at the Multicultural Student Center Lounge with a student discussion on “Wicked Theory/Naked Practice and Institutional Memory: 10 Years of Gains and Losses at UW-Madison for Folks of Color.” This event brought together more than 30 students to engage in an action dialogue about institutional memory and the state of UW-Madison’s multicultural student groups.

On Thursday, Peggy Choy (Dance /Asian Am. Studies) moderated a panel at Room L140, Chazen Museum on “Wicked Theory/Naked Practice: The Subversive Legacy of Asian American Composer Fred Ho.” The panel included Kevin Fellezs (School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts, University of California, Merced), Katrina Flores (Curriculum & Instruction), R. Anderson Sutton (School of Music, UW-Madison), Salim Washington (Brooklyn College), and Tim Yu (English/Asian-American Studies, UW-Madison). Later that night, Fred Ho presented a lecture-demonstration to an audience of 120 at Morphy Hall, Humanities Building entitled “Jazz and the Revolutionary Imagination: Afro/Asian Identities, New Sounds and a New World.”

On Friday, Fred Ho met with approximately 40 students at the Multicultural Center to discuss art and activism which was followed later that afternoon by “Performing Hybrid Asian Identity,” a lecture by Kevin Fellezs (School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts, University of California, Merced) at the Memorial Union. Events concluded Friday evening with another collaborative performance led by Fred Ho entitled “Big Green Monster Concert: Tomorrow is Now!” at Morphy Hall in the Humanities building. More than 150 turned out for this energetic, finale event.

These events were also co-sponsored by: Asian American Studies Program, Asian American Student Coalition, Associated Students of Madison, Department of Afro-American Studies, Filipino American Student Organization, Music-Race-Empire Research Circle, MultiCultural Council, MultiCultural Student Coalition, Pathways to Excellence, School of Music, The Ki Project, Women of the Scarred Earth, MEChA, Queer People Of Color (QPOC).

Looking Ahead: Upcoming Event for the Academic Year 2009-2010

Errol Morris: Symposium and Film Screenings, Fall 2011

The Harvey Goldberg Center is a major sponsor for an exciting upcoming symposium and film series dedicated to renowned documentary filmmaker and UW-Madison alumnus Errol Morris. In cooperation with the Communication Arts Department, the History Department will stage a retrospective on Errol Morris’ body of work, including public screenings of all nine of his feature films through the UW Cinematheque. The accompanying symposium will include an interdisciplinary academic forum and a lecture by Morris himself. This will be his first major visit to Madison since Morris launched his film career, providing an opportunity for one of Wisconsin’s most distinguished alumni to reconnect with his alma mater.

Director of numerous compelling documentaries Errol Morris’ work includes The Thin Blue Line (1988) and the widely acclaimed Fog of War (2003), a film Morris dedicated to eminent historians George Mosse and Harvey Goldberg. His most recent film, Standard Operating Procedure (2008), delves into the events underlying the infamous torture photos from Abu Ghraib prison.

Events are tentatively scheduled for October 2011. Further details will be forthcoming.

Co-sponsored by the UW-Madison History and Communication Arts Departments.

Harvey Goldberg Center for the Study of Contemporary History
Biennial Report for January 2006 & June 2007

The past eighteen months have seen the Goldberg Center continue its mission and accomplish two longstanding goals. We are proud to announce the availability of CDs of Harvey Goldberg’s lectures at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. We provided primary sponsorship for a major conference on the U.S. and imperialism, which took place in November 2006 and was convened by Center board members Al McCoy and Francisco Scarano. We also continued our traditional co-sponsorship of talks, workshops, conferences, and other activities.

Goldberg Center Sponsored Events, January 2006 – June 2007

Co-sponsorship of a conference at UW-Madison, “The African Diaspora and the Disciplines,” March 26, 2006.

Co-sponsorship of a “Workshop on Equatorial Africa” at UW-Madison, October 13-14, 2006.

Primary sponsor of a major interational conference, “Transitions & Transformations in the US Imperial State,” at UW-Madison, November 9-12, 2006. (See below, for detailed description.)

Co-sponsorship of a presentation by Prof. Nikhil Pal Singh of the University of Washington on his new book, Black is a Country, April 26, 2007.

Co-sponsorship of Prof. Greg Grandin’s Keynote address to the Wisconsin Labor History Society’s 26th Annual Conference, April 28, 2007.

Launch of Harvey Golberg’s Lectures, a collection of CDs, at Rainbow Books, Madison, WI, May 18, 2007. (See below, for detailed description of the CD project).

Primary sponsor for a delegation of UW-Madison students to attend 43rd Annual memorial service and conference for the victims of the “Freedom Summer” murders, Philadelphia, Mississippi, June 23-24, 2007. (See below, for detailed description.)

The Harvey Goldberg CD Project

We are delighted to announce that we have completed the process of compiling and digitizing a selection of Harvey Goldberg’s famous lectures at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Produced in collaboration with another organization–the community-based Harvey Goldberg Memorial Fund–this collection of Harvey’s unsurpassed lessons on the origins of our contemporary world, some of them now 30 years old and more salient than ever, will certainly amaze those who knew him back in the day and enlighten those who never had the privilege to hear him in person.

Harvey Goldberg began his academic career as an undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin, Madison in the early 1940s and stayed on to pursue a Ph.D. in French history. He began his teaching career at Oberlin College and Ohio State University, but he returned to Madison in 1963. At both Columbus and Madison, Goldberg captivated countless thousands of students with his spellbinding and politically powerful lectures. Here in Madison, he quickly outgrew the moderately sized lecture hall he had been assigned and moved to the massive auditorium in Wisconsin’s venerable “Ag Hall,” where 600 students hung from the rafters in rapt attention to his orations. Becoming one of the most popular professors and public figures in Madison, Goldberg worked to give his students an awareness of the historical struggles by the weakest for justice and to inspire and engagement with the social issues of their day. Harvey Goldberg’s teaching profoundly affected the lives of a student generation, and though he passed away in 1987, his legacy lives on today in the struggles of his former students.

These lectures, given in the 1970s, provide alumni, staff, and students with the opportunity to relive an extraordinary intellectual and political experience. In these unforgettable “bootleg lectures,” taped by students in defiance of his strict instructions, legendary University of Wisconsin–Madison professor Harvey Goldberg plunged his student audiences into the struggles of their day, instilling in them an understanding that history is not a musty mélange of dates and facts but a call-to-arms for social change. These meticulously crafted performances, delivered mainly to his famed “Contemporary Societies” class, applied the lessons of history to analysis of the contemporary world, ranging from Europe, across north Africa, to Asia and America. While they were based on the extensive research many scholars reserve for their published work, Professor Goldberg delivered them with an actor’s sense of timing and emphasis. For all the drama of his performances, we should not overlook the message Professor Goldberg offered in these lectures. He drew mesmerizing lessons about courage and commitment, risk and responsibility, and the role of individuals and organized struggle in effecting social change.

Those interested in information about acquiring a set of these lectures in CD format, can visit “Harvey Goldberg Center’s” home page.

The Empires Conference

In November 2006, the Harvey Goldberg Center joined six different academic departments here at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, including History, in hosting a groundbreaking three-day conference titled, “Transitions and Transformations in the U.S. Imperial State.” Operating from the overarching premise that the US empire was central to shaping states in both colonial periphery and American metropole, the conference attracted 47 scholars from four continents whose breadth of expertise thus mirrored the original territorial expanse of the early U.S. Empire. Participants thus included specialists in the history of Cuba, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and of course, the United States.

By bringing together such a diverse collection of scholars, the “Empires Conference” provided participants with an opportunity to break away from their usual geographic focus on a particular region or nation and to consider the U.S. empire as a single analytical unit. Apart from broad, thematic surveys in the opening and closing sessions, presenters delivered papers at panels that covered many of the key transformative facets of this empire, including law enforcement/police, education/language, race/anthropology, public health, law/constitution, the military, and environmental cum economic management. All of the panels generated spirited debate, fresh insight into a host of problems, and considerable excitement among the attendees who included faculty, graduate students, and undergraduates. Moreover, the concluding panel helped to point in the direction of how such a diverse community of scholars could work toward synthesizing their work into a broad understanding of the mutual transformations of empire.

Taking a cue from this productive gathering, conference participants are continuing their work by collecting their revised papers in a volume titled “Colonial Crucible: Transitions and Transformations in the U.S. Imperial State,” to be published by University of Wisconsin Press in spring 2009. This work will provide a broadly comparative approach and contribute to an understanding of how the American state was, to an extent not appreciated by current scholarship, shaped by its colonial periphery. Apart from publications, this conference has inspired a series of continuing inter-department seminars in Madison and grant from the World Universities Network for an international colloquium at the University of Sydney in July 2008.

With its focus on America’s debut on the world stage in the imperial age, the Empires Conference has, in effect, covered the early emergence of the United States as a global power in the first half of the twentieth century, 1898 to 1946. In a close complementation, a second conference sponsored by the Goldberg Center, scheduled for Spring 2009 and focused on the Cold War as history, will cover America’s ascent as the world’s sole superpower in this same century’s second half, 1948 to 1991. In sum, these two conferences, Empires and Cold War, represent a comprehensive review of America’s rise to world power in the twentieth century–a revival, in a sense, of the venerable “Wisconsin School of Diplomatic History” that once brought great distinction to both the History Department and the Madison campus. We are hopeful, therefore, of building upon this important Wisconsin tradition to produce insights of interest to the larger community, at local, state, and national levels.

The Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi

The Goldberg Center was extremely pleased to provide transportation and lodging assistance enabling graduate students at UW-Madison to attend 43rd Annual memorial service and conference for the victims of the “Freedom Summer” murders, Philadelphia, Mississippi, June 23-24, 2007. A report on the event and the students’ individual reflections are included here. Together, they suggest that Harvey Goldberg’s legacy is alive and well, from Madison to Mississippi.

1.) A Letter from Trudy Fredericks, Graduate Student in the UW-Madison Department of History:

Dear committee members of the Harvey Goldberg Center,

I wanted to pass along a sincere “thank you” for your Center’s financial support that allowed myself and nine other UW graduate students to attend the “43rd Annual Mississippi Civil Rights Martyrs Service and Caravan for Justice” held on June 23 and 24. The event was amazing and surpassed all hopes we carried with us. We made some important contacts while at the event and are currently planning an event that will bring civil rights activist Ed Whitfield to UW-Madison to discuss current events related to civil rights in Mississippi and Madison. We are also beginning plans to bring a larger cohort of students, activists, and community members to Mississippi for next year’s conference. A brief summary of the event follows (the summary is taken from conference organizer John Gibson’s summary and infused with our cohort’s experiences.)

We began our journey on Friday morning, June 22, at the 31st Baptist Church in Meridian, MS. Over 400 people were there from Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, Texas, Wisconsin, and Minnesota among other locations. From this meeting place we held a “Caravan for Justice” complete with signage calling for full measures of justice for fallen civil rights activists through Meridian to the Council of Federated Organizations (COFO) office which was the location from which Freedom Summer volunteers James Cheney, Mickey Schwerner, and Andrew Goodman departed from on the night they were murdered in 1964. Organizers held a press conference in front of the COFO office, which was covered by the local TV station and newspaper. Ed Whitfield opened with a sweeping eloquent statement of why we were there: to honor the Mississippi civil rights martyrs and demand as full a measure of justice as is obtainable for each and every victim of violence. Compelling remarks were also provided by Richard Coleman (Meridian/Lauderdale Co. NAACP Branch President); John Steele (Chairman of 43rd Annual Mississippi Civil Rights Martyrs Memorial Service and Conference Planning Committee); Curtis Muhammad (Mississippi Civil Rights Movement veteran), A.C. Henderson (Neshoba County resident and civil rights activist); Joe Morse (MN resident and SNCC veteran); and several others. One speaker issued a challenge to the media to challenge Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood and Mississippi 8th District Attorney Mark Duncan on the grossly inadequate prosecution done by them thus far in the Neshoba murders case.

After the rally at the COFO office, the Caravan for Justice traveled to Okatibbee Baptist Church Cemetery, home to the grave sites of James Chaney and his mother Fannie Lee Chaney who passed less than a month prior to this year’s event. We shared a moment of silence, some prayers, as well as some beautiful gospel songs at this location. From there the Caravan for Justice rolled on to the murder site on Rock Cut Road off of Highway 19 between Meridian and Philadelphia. This was a particularly moving stop as students from Tennessee read excerpts from Cagin and Dray’s book, We Are Not Afraid, describing in detail the murders of these three civil rights workers. From there the caravan traveled to downtown Philadelphia where we held a Rally for Justice at the Neshoba County Courthouse. Movement activists including George Smith and Diane Nash, key figures in the 1960s civil rights struggle in Meridian, MS and in the 1961 Freedom Rides and campaign for desegregation of Nashville lunch counters respectively.

While there were many inspired moments filled with love and hope, there were many other times when we were reminded of just why we were in Mississippi bringing attention to issues of racism and injustice. There was harassment and worse by white racists during the caravan. A pickup truck driven by a young white man ran several vehicles off Highway 19. He made obscene gestures as he dangerously passed many of the vehicles in the caravan. He drove his truck into the rear of a caravan vehicle. This was done when the caravan was at low speed or stopped, and the assailant was also at low speed. He intentionally bumped the caravan vehicle a second time. When the occupants of the caravan vehicle emerged to check for damage, the assailant waved a club or bat from within his truck. The assailant then backed up, then accelerated forward, swerving toward the two men from the caravan vehicle, causing them to jump out of the way to avoid serious injury or worse.

More harassment occurred in downtown Philadelphia. One Justice Rider was carrying a sign that read “JUSTICE DELAYED IS JUSTICE DENIED.” As the Justice Rider crossed the street to reach the courthouse square, a middle aged white man in a late model red truck at the stop light shouted in a hostile manner, “What justice delayed are you talking about?” The Justice Rider shouted back, “All the murderers in this town.” The red light changed and the truck sped away. Also, while the Justice Riders were at the rally, a sign calling for Olin Burrage, the owner of the property where the three men’s bodies were found in 1964, to be brought to justice was ripped off the car it was on, torn to pieces, and the pieces left on the hood of the car.

After the rally at the courthouse, the caravan proceeded to the Longdale Community Center site. After a welcoming ceremony and the invocation by Rev. Barton of Kemper Co.’s Unity Springs Church (George Roberts’ church), a good meal was enjoyed by all. Curtis Muhammad served as Master of Ceremonies for the Saturday segment of the memorial service/conference. Curtis did his usual great job. Of course, there was freedom singing then and throughout the service and conference.

Several participants shared their experiences as civil rights activists with the growing crowd. Steven McNichols, a retired attorney and human rights activist from California, read his personal account of a Freedom Ride he was on that ended with his arrest and placement in the Harris Co. (Houston, TX) jail. The story gripped the audience in the reality of the brutality that movement people faced. A panel dealing with the topic of Civil Rights Murders of Mississippi followed Mr. McNichols. Ed Whitfield moderated the panel that included Keith Beauchamp, producer of The Untold Story of Emmett Till; Ben Chaney, brother of Mississippi civil rights martyr James Chaney, civil rights crimes researcher Benjamin Greenberg of Boston, and John Gibson of the Arkansas Delta Truth and Justice Center. An engaged question and answer session followed the individual presentations by the panel members.

The Saturday session adjourned around 6:00, but the day was far from over. From about 8:00 to midnight a pizza party was held in and outside of one participant’s room back at the Motel 6 in Meridian. There was making of new friends and reconnecting with old friends. And much swapping of stories. It wasn’t long before Mississippi veteran Margaret Block and the group of History graduate students from the University of Wisconsin-Madison had a freedom singing song-fest outside the motel door.

On Sunday morning, participants gathered once again at the Longdale Community Center. Margaret Block was the Master of Ceremonies for Sunday. Rev. Advial McKenzie of Quitman did the invocation and Longdale native Jacqueline Spencer welcomed the gathering. A Roll Call of Mississippi Civil Rights Martyrs was read by movement veteran Diane Nash of Chicago; Jimmie Travis, movement veteran and Chairman of the Board of the Mississippi Veterans of the Civil Rights Movement; and Doris McKenzie, human rights activist from Quitman. The roll call consisted of reading summaries of the stories of each of the Mississippi Civil Rights Martyrs. Jacqueline Spencer followed the roll call with her personal recollections of her youth as a child of Neshoba County civil rights pioneers.

Then there was a scheduled and announced segment to recognize the food committee for their wonderful contributions to the success of the weekend. But there was a surprise, too. Four individuals were called forward to receive the first Longdale Freedom Fighter Awards: Rev. Advial McKenzie; George Roberts; Carolyn Sutton, the chair of the Food Committee; and Jacqueline Spencer. After another wonderful meal was shared by all, the Pursuit of Justice panel, moderated by Steve McNichols, began. Panel members were movement veteran Judge D’Army Bailey of Memphis, movement veteran Judge Olly Neal of Arkansas, Minnesota State Senator Richard Cohen, Mississippi veteran and Chairman of the Mississippi veterans group Jimmie Travis, and John Gibson. The panel made clear that there has been grossly inadequate justice rendered in Mississippi civil rights murders cases in general, and in the Neshoba murders case in particular. After a Q & A session, the gathering divided into discussion groups to continue addressing the pursuit of justice issue. Representatives from each discussion group then reported back to the reconvened entire gathering. Many good ideas were presented to pursue more adequate justice in the Mississippi civil rights murder cases.

Hank Thomas, movement veteran of Atlanta, gave a talk on the need for and some paths for economic development within African-American communities and other communities. John Steele presented a report on the progress and plans for the reopening of the Longdale Community Center. He stated that a nonprofit corporation has been officially formed and work to obtain federal tax-exempt status is in progress. After his report there were several comments from residents of the Longdale community about the strong need for the community center to be reopened.

The impact of this experience is difficult to capture in an email. It is eye-opening, infuriating, and inspiring all at the same time. It has inspired several of the attendees from UW to take it upon themselves to organize discussions on the UW campus about race, racism, and injustice in our own community. We welcome any ideas you might have for planning on-campus events. We are also working with some former Freedom Summer/SNCC workers from Minnesota and Wisconsin to organize to take a larger group of people down for next year’s event. We encourage anyone including faculty, undergrad students, and staff who might be interested in attending next year’s event to contact us for more information.

Thank you once again for your center’s support. This has been an important experience for all of us and we look forward to sharing this experience with others in the future.
Thank you and all the best,
Trudy

2.) Reflections on the event from the participating students:

In the United States of America, where reasons to believe seem fewer and farther between with each passing day, it’s so very important that we make every effort to hold on to the people, things and memories which might restore our faith in democracy, and even humanity. As a historian, activist and American, I can’t think of anything that makes me prouder or more hopeful than the continuing legacy of the Freedom Movement, and the “Tell It Like It Was…And Is” Conference is one of the strongest reminders of that legacy that I’ve yet experienced. The warmth and energy with which the organizers and participants infused the entire proceedings is remarkable, and the spirit of continued struggle makes the Conference something far greater than even the most successful commemorative events. I’m so happy to have been a part of this event for the past two years, and can certainly attest that I look forward to future years, when the growing, loving community that gathers in Neshoba County can push towards our collective goals with even greater scope and effectiveness. I can’t really think of a better way to spend a weekend than laughing, crying, singing, talking, listening, learning and remembering with folks whose commitment and passion remind me just what it is to be truly alive. Here’s to the next fifty years…

~ Charles Hughes, African-American Studies and U.S. History

The Mississippi Civil Rights Martyrs Memorial Service and Conference was an invaluable experience. Although we all study various aspects of the movement or the broader issues that were the subject of the conference, our studies are usually confined to books and the classroom. This conference provided a rare opportunity for students to meet and hear from activists. Furthermore, the civil rights movement drew much of its power from local organizing and consequently most of those grassroots participants’ stories are not present in history books. At the conference, we were able to hear about these individuals’ experiences firsthand. These speakers also discussed their activism today, demonstrating both their own continued dedication and that there is still much work to be done. Moreover, these activists vividly demonstrated that this current work is closely connected to the civil rights movement of the postwar era in their discussions of the need for justice for James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner, and other murdered civil rights workers. Along with the valuable insights activists shared during the formal programs, informal conversations proved to be an equally important source of both information and inspiration. I spent some time talking to a few local activists about my dissertation project and in the course of these conversations learned of local assumptions and knowledge surrounding the events I am studying. Activists even suggested individual names to investigate in my research. This sort of information is often difficult to attain through official records, which do not usually fully report on activists’ views and actions. I hope to follow up on these conversations and suggestions to guide some of my research to ensure that I am able to find not only the official version of events, but also that of local activists.

~ Christine Lamberson, U.S. History

I’m glad I went to Mississippi. Having come from the urban South – Atlanta – I encountered a different South than the one from which I originated. I also encountered the type of folks one rarely meets in the academy: true-blue activists who work within, and not just for, a cause. Most memorable for me, though, was the conversation I got to have with a few local men at the Motel Six (home to both stellar service and a lovely pool, if you’re into that sort of thing). All black, all young, these men were thrilled that a few Wisconsinites, most of them white, were down South for the Conference. But more interesting to them was that we were historians, scholars. One begged me to write about Mississippi, to show the world what is still happening in the Union’s most impoverished state. Racism still persists throughout this country, and it undeniably sounds more convenient when played with a southern accent, but the tenor of race relations in Mississippi remains startling to both residents and visitors alike. That the conference focuses as much on the continuing struggle as on the one we choose to memorialize remains the single biggest reason UW students should be back next year. Because maybe, one day, one of them will join it too.

~ Adam Malka, U.S. History

A fantastic trip all around. For starters, I got to know other grad students interested in this history, and learned a lot from them over the course of the trip. As I had hoped, I also established rapport with several movement veterans whom I now plan to interview for my research. More generally, the conference was an emotional experience that reaffirmed my commitment to documenting and analyzing the freedom movement. Participating in the rally at the Neshoba County courthouse was definitely a highlight for me!

~ Matt Nichter, Sociology

For just one short moment I forgot where we were. The night before, one of the conference organizers had given me some directions that would lead us through a “less friendly,” but historically important route from our hotel in Meridian to the Longdale Community Center near Philadelphia. This back road through Neshoba County, Mississippi led us past the school house where Ku Klux Klan members had made plans to scare off (and murder) civil rights workers. As we traveled the long and windy road through the rural landscape of Neshoba County my heart sank as I began to realize we were lost. As we passed by several homes proudly displaying the Confederate flag from flagpoles and front porches, the reality of the ongoing struggle against racism not just in Mississippi, but in the United States as a whole crept to the forefront of my mind. I felt awful, frightened, sick to my stomach, and embarrassed. I was embarrassed because I had, for just a brief time, forgotten where I was. It was not just that I was in rural Mississippi where racism and injustice festers on society’s surface in people’s front yards and on their car’s bumpers. I was embarrassed and horrified that I had forgotten that these struggles are not simply the stuff of books; that this hatred for the “other” thrives as strongly in 2007 as it did in 1865 and 1965; that it brews in Madison, Wisconsin as much as in rural Mississippi.

When we finally arrived at the Longdale Community Center more than one hour late for the start of the day’s events, I took a moment to promise myself that I would never again forget. I would never let myself get so lost in my books that I would forget the very reasons why I came to graduate school to study history in the first place. Participating in events such as this annual conference in Mississippi shake me to the core and force me to open my eyes to the reality that this world is long overdue for fundamental changes in how we, as neighbors and as strangers, treat one another in all aspects of our lives. I look forward to sharing this experience with others in the coming years.

~Trudy Fredericks, U.S. History

The “2007 Memorial Service and Tell It Like It Was and Is Conference” was an amazing experience. No matter how many books one wants to read about the movement, there is simply no substitute for meeting the people who were there. The movement veterans shared stories that can’t be found in any book. Visiting the various sites on the caravan for justice was also immensely moving. When you realize that you’re standing a few feet away from where the civil rights workers were murdered, it brings immediacy to the event that can’t be attained in any other way. I am so grateful I was able to attend.

~ Paul Heideman, African-American Studies

Harvey Goldberg Center for the Study of Contemporary History
Biennial Report for 2004 & 2005

I. General:

Goldberg Center Executive Committee:

Laird Boswell
Nan Enstad
Francine Hirsch
Steve Kantrowitz, co-chair
Al McCoy, co-chair
Tony Michels
Francisco Scarano
Brett Sheehan

Since its reorganization in 2001, the Goldberg Center has become an important part of the intellectual life on the Madison campus. With an income of about $4,000 a year from generous alumni donations, the Goldberg Center has provided seed capital for intellectual innovation within the History Department and for a wide variety of events across the campus.

During 2004 and 2005, the Goldberg Center supported activities including several upcoming national conferences, a variety of campus-wide symposia and workshops, and a number of well-attended public lectures. The Center also proceeded with its efforts to digitize and make available copies of Harvey Goldberg’s recorded lectures on the Madison campus; we expect to announce their availability in mid-2006.

II. Future Events – 2006 to 2008:

A.) Upcoming Conferences: “The Rise of America to World Power”

The Goldberg Center is pleased to be a major sponsor for a broad, inter-disciplinary reassessment of America’s rise to world power during the 20th century through two conferences, the first in November 2006 on America’s early 20th century empire of islands and the second in 2008 on US foreign policy during the Cold War decades.

In planning this initial conference on America’s early empire, a working group of scholars at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, reaching from the English Department to the Medical School, has developed a three-year program to draw scholars from across the country and across the globe for a series of conferences and workshops. In November 2006, a national conference on America’s early rise as a colonial power, entitled “Transitions & Transformations in the U.S. Imperial State,” will cover the US emergence as a global power in the first half of the twentieth century, 1898 to 1946. The Harvey Goldberg Center has committed up to $13,000 in matching funds for this conference. A second conference, “The Cold War as World Histories: Politics & Societies in the Post-Colonial Age,” will follow in Spring 2008, covering America’s development as a superpower from 1948 to 1991. The Goldberg Center has committed up to $10,000 in matching funds for this conference.

Both at the level organization and intellectual synergy, the two conferences will be closely coordinated. After the first conference, a series of campus writing workshops will the engage issues it raised in preparation for the second. To promote further dialogue between the two symposia, the co-chairs of the Cold War conference will serve as lead discussants in the Empires Conference–Steve Stern for the opening panel on imperial transitions and Jeremi Suri for the closing panel on the imperial transformation of the US state. Similarly, several participants in the Empires conference will be serving as discussants and presenters at the Cold War conference.

These two conferences, Empires and Cold War, represent a comprehensive review of America’s rise to world power in the twentieth century—in part, a revival of the venerable “Wisconsin School of Diplomatic History” that once brought great distinction to both the History Department and the Madison campus. The Goldberg Center is delighted to be able to contribute to this important Wisconsin tradition, helping to produce insights of interest to the larger community, at local, state, and national levels.

B.) Other Events:

Upcoming events in 2006 and 2007 also include a conference on the African Diaspora and a workshop on Equatorial Africa.

III. Activities in 2004 and 2005:

A.) Harvey Goldberg Lectures Project

Over the past two years, the Center has devoted significant time and money to recovering, transcribing, digitizing, and archiving over a hundred of Harvey Goldberg’s surviving lectures. In mid-2006, we expect to make some of these available to the public in exchange for a donation to the Center, in part to cover the costs of production and distribution. Audio clips from some of these lectures are already posted on our website (http://history.wisc.edu/Goldberg/Goldberg.htm); look for an announcement in the late spring of 2006.

B.) Lectures, Workshops, and Symposia

During 2004 and 2005, the Goldberg Center provided co-sponsorship for a wide array of activities on the UW campus.

Saul Landau Lecture: On February 25, 2005, Saul Landau, Director of the Digital Media Programs at California State Polytechnic University, lectured on “US Policy In The 21st Century: From Wilsonian Alliances To The Culture of Naked Power” in the State Historical Society auditorium. About fifty attendees took part in a lively discussion, which was co-sponsored by the Center and the Program in Latin American, Caribbean, and Iberian Studies.

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 at 40: From April 10 to April 14, 2005, the Center and Chadbourne Residential College co-sponsored a weeklong series entitled “The U.S. Voting Rights Act of 1965 at 40: Civil Rights, Voting Rights, Human Rights–Then and Now.” which featured civil rights luminaries Anne Braden, Dolores Huerta, Mary Liuzzo Lilleboe, and Diane Nash, as well as Ms. Braden’s biographer, Catherine Fosl. The events included public lectures, public conversations, roundtables, and classroom visits. Approximately six hundred people attended one or more of the events. Here is a flier for this remarkable series.

Other Campus Events: The Center also co-sponsored lectures in the fall of 2005 by Prof. Laura Hein (Northwestern), one of the leading authorities on modern Japan, and by Prof. David Emmons (Univ. of Montana), on the Irish in the nineteenth-century American West.

Annual Goldberg Lecture: On September 30, 2005, Center co-chair Prof. Al McCoy delivered the 1st Annual Harvey Goldberg Lecture on “Torture and US Foreign Policy” at the dedication of the Harvey Goldberg classroom at the Brecht Forum in New York City.

Harvey Goldberg Center
Annual Report for Year Ending December 31, 2003

I. General:

Goldberg Center Executive Committee:
Laird Boswell
Nan Enstad
Alison Frank
Francine Hirsch
Steve Kantrowitz, co-chair
Al McCoy, co-chair
Tony Michels
Francisco Scarano
Brett Sheehan
Jeremi Suri

General:
The Goldberg Center has become an important part of the intellectual life on the Madison campus. After a brief hiatus during a generational transition within the History Department, the Goldberg Center reformed itself in late 2001 and launched a new program of activities starting in early 2002. With an income of about $5,000 a year, the Goldberg Center has provided seed capital for intellectual innovation within the History Department. During 2003, the Goldberg Center funded a range of activities including a national conference, several campus-wide symposia, and a number of well-attended public lectures.
At its November 2002 meeting, the Goldberg executive committee made plans for an ambitious future conference on “Internationalizing History” that has the potential of making an impact on the History curriculum at this University and a contribution to curricular changes nationwide. Plans for the conference, to be held in the fall of 2005, are proceeding.

II. Activities in 2003:

1) “Internationalizing History” Seminar Series

Throughout 2003, the history department organized public seminars to generate discussion about the international dimensions of history. The Goldberg Center’s financial contributions enabled us to bring outside speakers to campus, broadening the conversation substantially and provoking lively exchanges.

The first seminar, led by our own Professor Steve Stern, met on 11 April 2003. After some brief opening remarks, faculty and graduate students discussed a series of articles offering different approaches to internationalizing history.

The second seminar, led by Professor Dipesh Chakrabarty of the University of Chicago, met on 2 May 2003. This discussion focused on how historians can recapture the voices of “subaltern” peasants and other frequently neglected groups as we internationalize our frame of vision.

The third seminar, led by Professor John Lewis Gaddis of Yale University, met on 12 May 2003. This meeting sparked a lively and fruitful debate about how historians can integrate the perspectives of both the “First World” and the “Third World” into a broader understanding of the Cold War.

The fourth seminar, led by Professor Thomas Bender of New York University, met on 23 October 2003. Entitled “Empire as a Way of Life,” Bender’s new work argues that the imperial drive constitutes an element of continuity in US history, and it places it in a broader framework of European imperial expansion. Bender’s article also suggests how the thought of American elites fits into the European context.

These seminars were successful on many levels. They drew large and diverse groups of faculty and students. They inspired conversations that continued in many informal settings long after the official meetings adjourned. Most important, they drew serious interest to the task of internationalizing our work. With strong faculty and student support, the history department is in the process of planning a series of additional seminars during the next two years.

Discussions about internationalizing the study of history have also contributed to new initiatives within our department’s undergraduate and graduate curriculum. Professor Jeremi Suri offered a graduate seminar on international history in the spring of 2003 that brought students and faculty together from various area specialties to address topics like the history of imperialism, slavery, capitalism, nationalism, and social protest. Other members of the faculty are planning new collaborative undergraduate and graduate courses that internationalize our teaching.

During the last century the history department at the University of Wisconsin has consistently served as a worldwide leader for innovative research and teaching. Our new initiative to internationalize the study and teaching of history promises to continue and update this distinguished tradition for years to come.

2) Planning for Goldberg-Mosse Conference on Internationalizing History

An international conference will take place in Madison in fall, 2005 on the theme of “Internationalizing History.” With joint funding from the Goldberg and Mosse Centers, scholars will be invited to submit original papers, and conference proceedings will be published in a volume in 2006. A primary aim of the conference will be to further discussion of the UW-Madison undergraduate history curriculum. These discussions were inspired by a suggestion from Professor Colleen Dunlavy:

“Internationalizing history” has become a bit of a buzzword in recent years. It’s not about getting scholars to do more comparative history but rather about encouraging them to lift their heads out of their national historiographies and to situate their particular topics in an international context. The need to do so may be more pressing in U.S. and European history, because they tend to be more systemically insular, but, if so, then perhaps historians of other parts of the world have good insights to share about how to internationalize. Given that present-day interest in the subject has been prompted by globalization, it would seem to accord well with Harvey Goldberg’s agenda (integrating historical inquiry with contemporary concerns).

In keeping with current History Department discussions about revising the undergraduate curriculum and reviving graduate-level Comparative World History Program, this conference could play a catalytic role in bringing about curricular changes. Although Wisconsin was a pioneer in the World History movement 40 years ago, today we have no undergraduate courses of that description. By contrast, peer institutions across the country have introduced such courses, making World History a core component of undergraduate education and graduate employment. At the graduate level, the Comparative World History program, once a vital part of the Department under John Smail and Phil Curtin, has faded. Such a conference could play a seminal role in encouraging complementary curricular changes at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.

Planning for this conference has proceeded in tandem with the intellectual groundwork being laid by the “Internationalizing History” seminar series. Goldberg Center representatives, along with other members of the History faculty and John Tororice of the Mosse Center, have formed a Working Group in International History. As plans for the conference continue, we will seek additional (secondary) support from other UW units.

3) Harvey Goldberg’s Lectures

Thanks to the extraordinary generosity of UW alums James Stevenson and Sidney Iwanter, we have obtained recordings of many of Harvey Goldberg’s lectures. The Center has hired a Ph.D. student in the History department as a project assistant to abstract, digitize, and archive these recordings. We know there is significant interest among Professor Goldberg’s former students in obtaining copies of these recordings, and we are working to make that possible.

Harvey Goldberg Center
Annual Report for Year Ending December 31, 2002

I. General:

Goldberg Center Executive Committee:
Laird Boswell
Nan Enstad
Alison Frank
Francine Hirsch
Steve Kantrowitz, co-chair
Al McCoy, co-chair
Tony Michels
Francisco Scarano
Brett Sheehan
Jeremi Suri

2002 Activities and Accomplishments:
Women’s History Conference.
CREECA speaker support.
Anna Clark visit
Local Government Conference
Civil Rights Conference
Tom Hayden Lectures

Future Plans:
Mosse-Goldberg Conference on Internationalizing History.

General:
Over the past year, the Goldberg Center has again become an active presence on this campus, and will hopefully become more so in the future. After a brief hiatus during a generational transition within the History Department, the Goldberg Center reformed itself in late 2001 and launched a new program of activities starting in early 2002. With an income of about $5,000 a year, the Goldberg Center has established its presence on this campus by providing seed capital for intellectual innovation within a Department with an annual budget of several million dollars, most of which is committed to fixed costs such as salaries. Throughout 2002, the Goldberg Center funded a range of activities including a national conference, several campus-wide symposia, and a number of well-attended public lectures. At its November 2002 meeting, the Goldberg executive committee made plans for an ambitious future conference on “Internationalizing History” that has the potential of making an impact on the History curriculum at this University and a contribution to curricular changes nationwide.

II. Activities in 2002:

1.) Women’s History Conference (Report from Prof. Nan Enstad, History Department):
The Goldberg Center was a major funder of a one-day conference and banquet celebration organized by the Graduate Program in Women’s History. The event was designed to honor the 21st anniversary of the program and its founder, Gerda Lerner, and took place on September 28, 2002 at the Pyle Center on the University of Wisconsin campus from 9:00 am to 4:30 pm. The conference was entitled, “Headwaters: The Past and Future of Women’s History” and featured six renowned speakers who are doing cutting edge work in the field of women’s and gender history. Over 110 people attended the conference, including alumni of the program (more than 25 Ph.D.s and M.A.s returned), current graduate and undergraduate students, faculty from a wide range of departments, and members of the community. Two formal panel presentations were followed by break out sessions and a roundtable discussion, making for an intellectually stimulating day looking at future directions of women’s history. In the evening, a banquet held in the Pyle Center’s alumni lounge was attended by 83 people. The banquet celebrated Gerda Lerner’s founding of the program, and the program’s 21 years of operation.
The conference and banquet provided exciting intellectual stimulation for undergraduates, graduate students and faculty, provided direction for future study, and helped to coalesce a women’s history faculty for the future. The conference and banquet linked alumni to current students and fostered dialogue between and among students and faculty. The number of people attending both portions of the program exceeded our expectations and all felt the event was a great success.

2.) CREECA Speaker Support (Report from Prof. Alison Frank, History Department):
As relatively new members of the history department, Professor Francine Hirsch and I wanted to contribute to the community by setting up a colloquium for graduate students and faculty members interested in the history of Eastern Europe, Russia and the Soviet Union. The colloquium is intended to be a forum for students and faculty to present and get feedback on works in progress (from dissertation chapters to conference papers to articles for publication) as well as to benefit from guest presentations made by distinguished visitors to UW-Madison. To launch the colloquium, we were able to take advantage of the presence of two preeminent scholars of Soviet history, Amir Weiner and Steven Kotkin. Professors Weiner and Kotkin were in Madison to give formal talks sponsored by CREECA (Center for Russia, East Europe and Central Asia). With support from the Goldberg fund, we were able to invite Professors Weiner and Kotkin to give special talks to the members of our workshop.
Each special workshop took place in the evening at Fran’s home. There were approximately 15 participants in the workshop featuring Amir Weiner and 24 participants in the workshop featuring Steven Kotkin. In both cases, the guests gave a brief presentation about conducting the research that formed the basis of the formal talk they had given earlier that day. This was followed by a question and answer session and an open discussion of research in post-Soviet archives as well as the general state of the field of Soviet history.

The workshops were of particular interest to graduate students facing their first research trips abroad and unfamiliar with the techniques and approaches that make working in the archives of the former Soviet Union successful. Because many students have limited opportunities to conduct research abroad (due to time constraints and limited funding), it is critical that they make full use of the time available to them. For that reason, I personal believe that the information provided by Professors Weiner and Kotkin at these workshops will be of immense value to the graduate student participants.
As a faculty participant, I enjoyed the opportunity to meet two of the most respected and renowned historians in the field, and to hear their thoughts on trends in Russian/Soviet historiography and what remains to be done in the field.

The workshops provided a forum for the kind of discussion which is not possible in a more formal setting, and which fosters a sense of community both across different campuses (Princeton, Stanford, UW) and across hierarchical boundaries (graduate students, junior and senior faculty). I believe they were a stunning success, and look forward to continuing the workshops upon Fran’s return.

3.) Anna Clark Lectures (Report from Prof. Suzanne Desan, History Department):
Anna Clark, professor of History at the University of Minnesota, gave two presentations during her visit to UW-Madison. She gave a lecture entitled “A Theory of Scandal: The Sexual Politics of the British Constitution,” in the Curti Lounge on Wednesday, March 6, 2002. About twenty people attended. On the same day, she also led a discussion of her past and current work in the graduate seminar, team taught by Jeanne Boydston and Suzanne Desan, on the “Transatlantic World (1750-1850).” Seventeen people were present. The students had read her book on labor and gender in nineteenth-century Britain and had read a chapter of her book in progress on British politics in the revolutionary era.
Both events provoked lively discussion and offered faculty, graduate students, and undergraduates (in the case of the afternoon lecture) a stimulating intellectual experience. We had some participants from other departments, including English and History of Science. In the afternoon lecture, Anna Clark’s theories on how political scandal undermined the power of the monarchy in early nineteenth-century Britain proved especially controversial and the audience questioned whether she had adequately developed a “theory” of scandal, as promised. In the morning seminar, Professor Clark responded effectively to the students’ criticisms of her work in labor history and explored how her ideas had evolved toward her new project. Both events provided graduate students in particular a rewarding opportunity to critique and discuss work in progress with an open-minded and responsive senior scholar.

4.) Local Democracy Conference (Report by Patrick Barrett, Administrative Director, A. E. Havens Center):

The conference on “Community Power 2002: International Conference on Local Democracy” was held on the weekend of November 15-17, 2002 in the “On Wisconsin Room” of the Red Gym on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus. Hosted by the A.E. Havens Center, the conference was attended by approximately 225 individuals, primarily from Madison and other communities in Wisconsin, but also from California, Connecticut, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Pennsylvania, and Texas. There was also a very good mixture of ages, as well as strong representation from the campus community, including faculty and students.
The conference opened on Friday evening, November 15 with a talk by Luciano Brunet on the recent election of Lula, the Workers Party candidate for President in Brazil. Brunet is a long-time Workers Party activist and a past member of the Municipal Government of Porto Alegre. Until 2001, he was the adjunct coordinator of the municipal government agency responsible for Porto Alegre’s world renowned “Participatory Budget.” He has also been involved in the planning of the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre. His talk explained the background to Lula’s election and the challenges that the Workers Party faces as it attempts to democratize Brazil. His talk received a very enthusiastic response from the audience of approximately 150 people.

The remainder of the conference, which took place on Saturday and Sunday, was devoted to examining the experiences of local pro-democracy struggles and movements in the United States and abroad. The central objective was to generate debate and discussion about the substance of and possibilities for democratic deepening at the local level. This part of the conference proceeded in two stages. The first stage was a discussion of international examples of more or less successful pro-democracy struggles, including the Workers Party in Porto Alegre, Brazil, the Broad Front in Montevideo, Uruguay, and “municipal socialism” in Britain. The format consisted of a plenary panel discussion followed by guided small group discussions. The panelists were: Luciano Brunet, who spoke about the experience of “participatory budgeting” in Porto Alegre; Daniel Chávez, who addressed the experience of the Broad Front in Montevideo; and Michael Keith, who examined the phenomenon of “municipal socialism” in Britain during the 1980s. Chávez is a researcher and project coordinator for the Amsterdam-based Transnational Institute (TNI), a global network of scholars from the Third World, Europe, and the US. Before moving to Europe approximately six years ago, he was a grassroots political activist and a technical advisor for Montevideo’s largest urban movement: the Uruguayan Federation of Housing Cooperatives (FUCVAM). His PhD dissertation is a comparative analysis of the municipal experiences of Montevideo and Porto Alegre. He therefore offered a very valuable comparative perspective to the conference. Michael Keith is the Director of the Centre for Urban and Community Research and Professor of Sociology at Goldsmiths, University of London. Until 2001, he was the Leader of the Council in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in the East End of London. He continues as a cabinet member in Tower Hamlets with responsibility for economic development, urban regeneration and “community partnership” and is currently the Chair of the Thames Gateway London Partnership (TGLP), the sub regional urban regeneration alliance covering 11 boroughs to the East of London.

The second stage of the conference was a discussion of current examples of democratic potential in the United States, including Madison (WI), San Francisco (CA), Hartford (CT), and rural Pennsylvania. Again, the format consisted of a plenary panel followed by guided small group discussions. The panelists were: Brenda Konkel, who spoke about the experience of Progressive Dane in Madison; Matt Gonzalez, who discussed the campaigns for public power and electoral reform in San Francisco; Elizabeth Horton Sheff, who discussed the challenges of democratic deepening and progressive change in Hartford, CT; and Thomas Linzey, who examined the efforts to ban corporate agribusiness in rural Pennsylvania. Brenda Konkel is a member of the Madison common council and a co-chair of Progressive Dane; Elizabeth Horton Sheff is the Majority Leader of the Hartford city council; Matt Gonzalez is a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and the sponsor of the recently successful resolution to adopt Instant Run-off Voting in San Francisco; and Thomas Linzey is the co-founder and staff attorney for the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, a nonprofit organization working with community-based organizations and municipal governments to counter the power of corporate agribusiness in rural
Judging by the many comments received from those who attended, the conference was clearly very successful and even inspirational. The international segment of the conference was perhaps the most successful and clearly accomplished its purpose of exposing the participants to examples of advanced pro-democracy struggles from other countries. Porto Alegre’s experience with “participatory budgeting” was the main focus of discussion among the participants, though the presentations made by the other panelists (particularly, Daniel Chávez, Thomas Linzey, and Matt Gonzalez) also generated considerable reflection.

The conference was intended as the first in what the organizers hoped would be a series of conferences aimed at examining the substance of and possibilities for democratic deepening at the local level. Given the strong enthusiasm expressed by the participants for continuing the discussion initiated at this conference, we are confident that those hopes will be realized. We have therefore begun the process of planning a follow-up conference, which we have tentatively scheduled for the spring of 2004. We are very grateful for the contribution that the Goldberg Center made to the success of this year’s conference. Please accept our sincere thanks.

5.) Civil Rights Conference (Report from students Joseph M. Fronczak, Jerome Dotson, and Tyina Steptoe):

The lecture series on “Voting Rights and the Road to Freedom” was a tremendous success! Between a panel discussion, an evening lecture, visits to History, Afro-American Studies, and Music classes, and a talk at East High School, our attendance added up to about one thousand people (not to mention the multitude that heard our guests interviewed on radio). It all happened with the Harvey Goldberg Center’s generous support!

Students and members of the community learned powerful lessons about the ongoing African American freedom struggle. Ms. Joanne Bland told us about the most frightening day of her life, when she marched across the Edmund Pettus Bridge on Bloody Sunday. Mr. Gordon Sellers challenged the traditional narrative of the Civil Rights Movement with his stories about
his life–he was a militant who believed in armed self defense until Martin Luther King was murdered; then, Mr. Sellers explained, he became nonviolent. Mr. Joe McClain also challenged our conceptions of the Movement by telling us about the marches right here in Wisconsin, where Milwaukee has been called the Selma of the North. Mrs. Vel Phillips inspired all who met her with an ageless energy and capacity for love.

Judging by audience reactions, this was a cherished opportunity for the UW-Madison community. The Daily Cardinal and the Badger Herald described “a capacity crowd”–the crowds were not only large, but they were rowdy and fired up–and quoted students excited to have history come alive. The speakers continually brought crowds to their feet for standing ovations. All this happened with the Goldberg Center’s crucial support. For this, those of us in the student organization Freedom are forever thankful. This was a memorable occasion and we are proud to have organized it. You, too, should be proud of making “Voting Rights and the Road to Freedom” possible.

6.) Tom Hayden Lectures (Report from Prof. Jim Donnelly, History Department):
Radical political activist and author Tom Hayden was on campus on Thursday and Friday, October 3 and 4. He did three notable things while he was with us. First, on the evening of October 3, he gave a lecture entitled “Saving Democracy from Globalization and the War on Terror” in the first-floor auditorium of the Business School (Grainger Hall 1100). I would estimate the attendance at 150-175 persons. Second, after lunch at the University Club on Friday, October 4, Hayden talked about relationships between the history of Irish America and the conflict in Northern Ireland since the late 1960s–themes addressed in his book Irish on the Inside (published by Verso Press in 2001). The attendance here included 45-50 persons. And third, later that same afternoon, Hayden was the star witness at a special meeting of Professor Jeremi Suri’s “Seminar on the Sixties” in the Curti Lounge of the Mosse Humanities Building. There were about 25 or 30 people in attendance for this event. In his “Saving Democracy” lecture Hayden developed a whole series of parallels between his understanding of the rise of the student and antiwar movements in the 1960s and his views of the recent foreign policy of the Bush administration. He stressed the concern of radical student leaders like himself in the 1960s with the multiple ways in which the Vietnam War deflected political attention and financial support from fundamental economic and social problems at home and abroad, and then demonstrated how the “War on Terror” and the looming conflict with Iraq were producing very similar effects now. In responding to questions from the audience for the better part of an hour after his lecture, Hayden ranged over a very wide number of topics. But he repeatedly answered questions about the potential for mobilizing opposition to the foreign policies of the Bush administration by drawing on his anti-Vietnam War battles and his decades of experience as a radical activist since then.

In his Friday talk at the University Club, Hayden advanced his view that in their search for acceptance and respectability in the United States in the twentieth century, Irish Americans had ceased to be engaged on the nationalist side (especially the side of revolutionary republican nationalism) in Northern Ireland. Though some of those present offered countering arguments about the reasons for the attitudes of Irish Americans on the Northern Ireland conflict, the talk and the debate which followed were highly stimulating.

Hayden’s last performance–in the “Seminar on the Sixties”–was perhaps his best and most impressive. For two hours he answered a whole series of often pointed questions from graduate students, undergraduates, and faculty members about student radicalism and organized opposition to the Vietnam War. His answers were by turns thoughtful, challenging, slightly exasperated, humorous–and always informative. It is no exaggeration to say that the many intellectual exchanges between Hayden and members of the seminar made the Sixties come fully alive again and threw all sorts of fresh and interesting light on them. Many of those in attendance made a special point of saying how much they enjoyed this event.

Let me conclude by expressing my deep personal gratitude to the Goldberg Center for its financial and moral support in making all three of these events possible. Through this support we enriched the educational experience of both graduate students and undergraduates and
extended the reach of the university into the local Madison community. I think that Tom Hayden’s visit and concerns were very much in the spirit of the causes and principles for which Harvey Goldberg established the Center that bears his name.

III. Future Plans:

Goldberg-Mosse Conference on Internationalizing History
At a planning meeting in November, the Goldberg executive discussed tentative plans for an international conference to take place in Madison in Spring, 2005 on the theme of “Internationalizing History.” With joint funding from the Goldberg and Mosse Centers, scholars will be invited to submit original papers, and conference proceedings will be published in a volume in 2006. A primary aim of the conference will be to further discussion of the UW-Madison undergraduate history curriculum. These discussions were inspired by a suggestion from Professor Colleen Dunlavy:

“Internationalizing history” has become a bit of a buzzword in recent years. It’s not about getting scholars to do more comparative history but rather about encouraging them to lift their heads out of their national historiographies and to situate their particular topics in an international context. The need to do so may be more pressing in U.S. and European history, because they tend to be more systemically insular, but, if so, then perhaps historians of other parts of the world have good insights to share about how to internationalize. Given that present-day interest in the subject has been prompted by globalization, it would seem to accord well with Harvey Goldberg’s agenda (integrating historical inquiry with contemporary concerns).

In keeping with current History Department discussions about revising the undergraduate curriculum and reviving graduate-level Comparative World History Program, this conference could play a catalytic role in bringing about curricular changes. Although Wisconsin was a pioneer in the World History movement 40 years ago, today we have no undergraduate courses of that description. By contrast, peer institutions across the country have introduced such courses, making World History a core component of undergraduate education and graduate employment. At the graduate level, the Comparative World History program, once a vital part of the Department under John Smail and Phil Curtin, has faded. Such a conference could play a seminal role in encouraging complementary curricular changes at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.

In advance of our meeting, Professor Jeremi Suri spoke to the Mosse program coordinator, John Tortorice, about sharing funding and sponsorship for a future conference on “internationalizing history.” With the exception of fulfilling the Mosse mandate of involving scholars from the Hebrew University, the Mosse program seems flexible about the participants the conference and is willing to fund the participation of international scholars. Mosse is interested in broad international themes that reach across regions such as military technology, capital flows. On the matter of publication, Mosse has a series with the UW Press that would provide us with a natural outlet for this volume. Jeremi agreed to pursue this matter in future conversations with John Tortorice.

There was general agreement that we should limit primary sponsorship to two groups, making this the “Goldberg-Mosse Conference on Internationalizing History.” Among those we might approach for secondary sponsorship and funding are: UW Foundation, International Institute, and Anonymous Fund.