Millions of tons of topsoil stirred up by the “black blizzards” of the 1930s might have been able to cripple the U.S. agricultural industry, but they couldn’t snuff out another American institution: the resilience of Midwestern women.

The persistence of such women will be the subject of a speech, “Down & Dirty, But Not Out: Great Plains Women of the Depression Years,” to be delivered at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Watkins Community Museum of History, 1047 Mass.

The speech from Sara Jane Richter, dean of liberal arts at Oklahoma Panhandle State University in Goodwell, Okla., will be the first of four offered at the museum as part of its Sesquicentennial Lecture Series, celebrating the founding of Lawrence 150 years ago.

Other speeches will chronicle the history of Kansas before its founding, depict the humor of Will Rogers and capture the daring of Amelia Earhart.

“It’s a way to talk about memories — memories of growing up in the Plains,” said Rebecca Phipps, museum director. “While these speeches aren’t specifically Lawrence-oriented, they are about culture and the Plains. And people in Lawrence will be able to relate to that.

“Certainly, members of our community will be able to remember Will Rogers and remember what he meant to them growing up — and our older citizens, what it meant to be growing up in the Great Plains during the 1930s.”

Richter will discuss how women of the Plains managed to keep their families together during the persistent drought, stifling heat and oppressive economic conditions of the Dust Bowl years. As an educator, she has taught courses focusing on American Indian literature and literature and history of the American West.

Other speeches in the series, sponsored by the Kansas Humanities Council:

• “Life Before Territory — 1805-1854,” a look , through slides and commentary, at the history of Kansas before it became a U.S. territory, by Randy Theis, of the Kansas State Historical Society, 3 p.m. April 25.
• “Amelia Earhart,” a dramatic interpretation by Ann Birney, an independent scholar of American studies, who talks about Earhart’s Kansas childhood, love of flying and ambivalence toward fame on the eve of Earhart’s attempt to fly around the globe, 6:30 p.m. May 11.
• “Will Rogers,” a dramatic interpretation by Doug Watson, who teaches literature at Oklahoma Baptist University, who will offer commentary about the social and political issues of Rogers’ day, 3 p.m. July 11.