The Heartland: An American History with Kristin Hoganson

What is the “heartland?” According to the Brookings Institution it is a group of nine states including Minnesota. 

Reporters, many of whom have never visited it, characterize it with words like “traditional,” “conservative,” and “wholesome.” Politicians have long cast it as the place where the nation’s identity exists in its most pristine form. 

This so-called heartland has been a historically unheralded crossroads of people, commerce, and ideas with dense and intricate connections to the rest of the planet. 

How does the seeming immovable myth of the “heartland” obscure the richer historical realities of our part of the country? 

Kristin Hoganson is a history professor at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, and a Distinguished Lecturer for the Organization of American Historians.

See the full History Forum lecture series.

2 PM IN-PERSON TICKETS

Please note: This program is also offered at 10 a.m.

Masks and social distancing will be required in the auditorium during the program.

This program is made possible by the Charles A. Lindbergh Fund.