As we close out this year’s signature series, we are joined by Missouri Humanities Executive Director, Ashley Beard-Fosnow to discuss how the humanities have shaped American civic leadership and the role of Missouri citizens in contributing to our “American Experiment.” Especially ahead of America’s 250th anniversary, how can each of us employ the power of the humanities to build a “more perfect union?”

September 28-October 5th is Good Neighbor Week. Signed into law in 2022, Missouri Good Neighbor Week encourages citizens of Missouri to “participate in events and activities to establish connections with their neighbors.” In honor of Good Neighbor Week, we’re sharing a conversation held during our 2025 Humanities Symposium: Ozarks Engaged: Citizenry and the Future of Our Communities

This session is titled Engaged Neighbor, Engaged Citizenry: How Neighboring Strengthens Civic Life. Its goal is to highlight key findings from The State of Neighboring in Missouri (2022-2024) study, exploring shifts in community connection, the impact of declining personal interactions, and local initiatives—like Missouri Good Neighbor Week and the Engaged Neighbor Pledge—that are helping rebuild trust and civic engagement.

Our conversation included David Burton from University of Missouri Extension and author of the State of Neighboring Report, and Michael Brittain from Restore SGF and Neighborhood Advisory Council Clean Committee. This conversation was recorded on April 5th, 2025, in Springfield, MO.

For this latest episode, we are taking a look back at early American history, hundreds of years ago, to explore the relationships between colonists/early Americans and Indigenous peoples in this part of North America. Specifically, how did Native groups influence early American government and civic engagement? Yes, this is a very big question, and a topic like this could fill volumes of books and hours in a lecture hall, so this episode will just scratch the surface. But, as always, we encourage you to dig in and explore more for yourself!

To help break down this very dense and complicated topic, we spoke with Robert Miller, an enrolled citizen of the Eastern Shawnee Tribe and Professor at the Sandra Day O’Connor School of Law at Arizona State University, and Dr. Peter Kastor, the Samuel K. Eddy Professor in History at Washington University in St. Louis.