Historian Bob Blythe will speak about the ongoing effort to preserve Shady Grove Cemetery and its significance to Cape Girardeau's history.

Shady Grove is one of hundreds of cemeteries that were maintained by newly free African Americans in the South after the Civil War. Blythe will also share details on efforts to preserve and commemorate African American cemeteries nationwide and the integral part they in play in our collective history.

Blythe will speak on Saturday, May 28 at 10:00 a.m. in University Center Ballroom A on the campus of Southeast Missouri State University. The event is free and open to the public.

This event is co-sponsored by the Bollinger Center for Regional History and the Historic Preservation Program, Department of History and Anthropology and Southeast Missouri State University.

Bob Blythe has his B.A. in American History from Roosevelt University and an M.A. in the History of Architecture from the University of Illinois, Chicago. He retired from his position as the Regional Historian for the Southeast Region of the National Park Service in 2006. He has undertaken several assignments as a consultant since then, including a history of Everglades National Park and National Register nominations for sites connected to the Civil Rights Movement in Wisconsin.