Cal State San Bernardino will again host the IE People’s History Conference, bringing together the community to bridge university research, creative activities and community activism to explore the art, culture, and histories of the Inland Empire.

The conference, which is free and open to the public, is set to begin at 8:30 a.m. Saturday, May 3, at the university’s Center for Global Innovation. Check-in begins at 8 a.m.; registration may be done online at the IE People's History Conference registration webpage. Parking will be free to the first 140 people to register.

The mission of the IE People’s History Conference is to identify, document, and disseminate the diverse stories of the IE. This includes all historically marginalized groups, such as Indigenous peoples, African Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos/as/e/x, religious minorities, working class groups, immigrant populations, LGBTQ+ communities, and more.

Maintaining a “history-from-below” perspective, the conference aims to document inequality and resistance, in the past and present.

The daylong conference will feature panel and roundtable discussions led by scholars, students and community members from across the IE and beyond. Sessions, which consist of three or more panels and presentations (subject to update), are:

8:45 a.m.

  • Welcome remarks by Marc A. Robinson, CSUSB associate professor of history

9-10:15 a.m.

  • Place-Making in the Inland Empire
  • IE Stories: Using Local Narratives & Counter-Stories in K-12 Classrooms
  • Roundtable discussion, “Racial Justice in Riverside County”

10:30-11:45 a.m.

  • Art, Activism, and Environmental Justice in the IE
  • LGBTQ+ History and Community Building
  • Roundtable discussion, “Riverside’s School Desegregation 1965: In the First Person”
  • Stories of Resistance and Justice: Looking to the Past to Reimagine the Future

Noon-1:30 p.m.

  • Lunch and keynote, “From the IE With Love,” with poets/writers Casandra Lopez, Isabel Quintero, Romaine Washington and Juanita Mantz

1:30-2:45 p.m.

  • Roundtable discussion on the Inland Empire Section of the National Council of Negro Women: Its History, Future Impact, and Mission
  • Warehouse Activism and Radical Reimaginings of the IE
  • IE Art and Activism
  • Freedom Mapping in K-12 Education: Reimagining Community through Data, Place, and StoryMaps

3-4:15 p.m.

  • Local Antifascist Traditions
  • Student Activism in the Inland Empire & Pomona Valley
  • Solstice Theater – Weaving IE History, Present, and Future through Shadow Puppetry
  • The Sounds of the IE

4:30-5:15 p.m.

  • The Sounds of the IE
  • Racial Labor Regimes: Past & Present
  • Space and Ecology
  • Incorporating Local Labor History in your Pedagogy: Reflections on the Labor of Love Project

6 p.m.

  • Evening reception

Last year, the first IE People’s History Conference was held at CSUSB on June 1. It was a successful event, attracting 125-150 attendees and garnering media coverage from KVCR News.  

For more information, visit A People’s History of the I.E. website.

Web event flyer, IE People's History Conference