Biscuits, cornbread, hot rolls, mile-high cakes, steaming cobblers — southern baking holds a towering place in the realm of American cookery. Founded on Native American, English, and African traditions, and raised in a hot, humid climate, southern baking developed in distinctive ways. We'll talk about how southerners over four centuries have shaped their baking around corn and flour and made it their own. Historian Rebecca Sharpless gives the first biennial Longone Memorial Lecture. Lemonade and light refreshments will be served.

Rebecca Sharpless writes on the intersections of food, women, and work in the American South. Her most recent books are "Grain and Fire: A History of Baking in the American South" and "People of the Wheat: Culture and Cultivation in North Texas." She is professor of history at Texas Christian University.