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By Bob Myers, Director of History Programming, Historical Society of Michigan

Benjamin Franklin King Jr. of St. Joseph, Michigan entertained a national audience with his poetry. His musical and oratorical talents won him a following throughout the Midwest and his dull wit made him a beloved figure among Chicago newspaper reporters and members of the macabre, outlandish Whitechapel Club. But like so many brilliant sparks, he burned out just as he caught fire.

Bob Myers oversees many of the Society’s educational programs, including its Michiganders on the Road motorcoach tours, History Hounds lecture series, History Skills Workshops and Michigan Heritage Home awards. He holds a BA in history from Alma College and an MA in history from Western Michigan University. He has authored numerous books, and his articles have appeared in Michigan History Magazine, Chronicle, and Michigan Historical Review. He and his wife Candace live in Grand Ledge where they are restoring their 1903 Colonial Revival home.

By The Black History Leadership Society

The members of the Black History Leadership Society have persevered in their efforts to keep black history alive by presenting themed programs each February in celebration of Black History Month. This year’s theme is “Celebrating African American Women”. The Black History Leadership Society will announce the 2025 honoree for exemplary community leadership and discuss the impact that the Youth on the Rise Scholarship has on our community. Join us to kick-off Black History Month and celebrate the amazing work that the Society does for our community.

By Dr. Evan Kutzler, Associate Professor of History, Western Michigan University

In 1948, all all-white jury in Georgia sentenced Rosa Lee Ingram and two teenage children to the electric chair for what became known nationally as a self-defense slaying. The protests that followed saved Rosa Lee, Sammie Lee, and Wallace Ingram’s lives but also propelled a rabid segregationist to seven terms in the U.S. Congress. At once local and national, distant and familiar, the Ingram case captured the imagination of activists around the country for years before receding from popular public memory.

Dr. Kutzler has published book-length projects and is presently completing a book about Rosa Lee Ingram, a widowed mother of twelve whose trial became an international symbol of southern and American injustice in the Cold War era.

“I am a Tennessean by birth, an academic by training, and a public historian by instinct,” so states Dr. Evan Kutzler’s website. He is currently an Associate Professor of History at Western Michigan University who is also committed to the broad interdisciplinary field of professionals working outside the classroom and beyond the traditional mediums of academic scholarship. His public history projects have included national register nominations, websites, and digital tours, as well as newspaper, magazine, and book publications. A sample of projects include a photography book, Ossabaw Island: A Sense of Place with photographer Jill Stucky and an introduction by President Jimmy Carter (Macon: Mercer University Press, 2016), an edited cookbook, From Biscuits to Lane Cake: Emma Rylander Lane’s “Some Good Things to Eat” (Macon: Mercer University Press, 2023), and a National Park Service study on African American history at Andersonville National Historic Site.

By Angela LaBarca, Community Relations, Corewell Health Hospice and Palliative Care

Understanding hospice and palliative care can be overwhelming for patients and their families. With so many myths about hospice care, this will be an opportunity to learn about the specialized care provided by local hospice care teams to include physical, emotional, psychosocial, and spiritual care for anyone experiencing serious illness. Information on how care is paid for will be provided as well as the benefits of early admission. Angela will also offer information on primary care in the home, grief healing and education, veteran support services and advance care planning.