Ivers Square in Cape Girardeau topic for Historic Tuesday Talk

Ivers Square is scheduled to be the focus of the Feb. 26 installment in the Historic Tuesday Talk series in the Rosemary Berkel and Harry L. Crisp II Museum at Southeast Missouri State University’s River Campus in Cape Girardeau.

Local historian Denise Lincoln is scheduled to present “Who is Ivers of Ivers Square?” in a free presentation at 7 p.m., which is open to the public. 

The event is a part of the museum’s celebration of Black History Month during February to recognize and learn about the cultures, history and achievements of black Americans.

In June 2017, the Cape Girardeau City Council voted to name the historic public square at the Common Pleas Courthouse as Ivers Square. 

Lincoln will discuss the backstory of this naming event and its significance to the community.

The conversation will also focus on the Ivers family, who struggled and persevered within the region’s difficult history of slavery. 

Lincoln is a citizen historian whose interest in the African-American story of Southeast Missouri was piqued by a chance encounter with the historic records of the enlistment of regional soldiers into regiments of the United States Colored Troops in Cape Girardeau. 

The Historic Tuesday Talk series is scheduled on select Tuesdays at 7 p.m. in the Crisp Museum through April 16. 

The talks consist of short, informational presentations and discussion sessions about a variety of topics.

Crisp Museum is inside Southeast Missouri State University’s River Campus Cultural Arts Center at 518 S. Fountain St. in Cape Girardeau. For more information, email museum@semo.edu or call 573-651-2260.