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History Matters Fall 2013

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history matters FALL 2013 | NEWSLETTER 2013 FALL LECTURE SERIES Slavery and Freedom in the Making of America AS THE UNITED STATES MARKS THE 150TH ANNIVERSARY of the Emancipation Proclamation in 2013, the History Lecture Series returns this fall with four presentations by nationally recognized historians on the theme "Slavery and Freedom in the Making of America." The speakers will consider the imagined roots of slavery in Greco-Roman antiquity, the origins and development of racial slavery across the Americas and its centrality to the creation of the United States, and the continued legacies of slavery in post-emancipation American life. The series will begin on October 23, 2013 with a lecture by Professor Sandra Joshel. An historian of ancient Rome, Joshel will discuss how Rome often served as a touchstone for slaveholders in the United States from the colonial period through the nineteenth century. Rather than debate or even interpret their historical judgments, Joshel will look at ancient slavery and its relation to freedom to show how freedom was, in fact, defined by the development of a slave system. In effect, her lecture will use ancient slavery to raise questions about our understanding of slavery and emancipation in the United States. HISTORY FALL LECTURE SERIES October 23, 2013, 7 – 9pm, Kane Hall 130 October 30, 2013, 7 – 9pm, Kane Hall 130 November 6, 2013, 7 – 9pm, Kane Hall 130 November 13, 2013, 7 – 9pm, Kane Hall 120 Learn more and purchase tickets at www.historylectureseries.org TABLE OF CONTENTS Message from the Chair.........................................................2 Generous Gift to the Department...........................................4 2012-13 Lectures and Symposia.............................................4 In Memorium..........................................................................5 Faculty News..................................................................5, 6, 7 Recent Dissertations and Graduate Student Profiles................8 History Department Annual Awards........................................9 Undergraduate Student Profiles............................................10 Public History Projects...........................................................10 Alumni News........................................................................11 THIS IMAGE OF A BLACK MAN KNEELING, BOUND BY CHAINS, AND SURROUNDED BY THE WORDS "AM I NOT A MAN AND A BROTHER?" WAS PRODUCED BY JOSIAH WEDGWOOD AND BECAME THE OFFICIAL EMBLEM OF BRITAIN'S SOCIETY FOR EFFECTING THE ABOLITION OF THE SLAVE TRADE IN 1787. On October 30, Professor Stephanie Smallwood will focus on the early modern Atlantic world and the critical role of slavery in European colonization efforts across the Americas. Paying particular attention to events in English North America, Smallwood's lecture will chart the emergence of racial thought and its role in codifying slavery in the thirteen colonies, and explore the intertwining of slavery and commitments to political freedom that were in place by the late 18th century. Smallwood's lecture will conclude with a comparison of two late 18th century revolutions, one in Haiti and the other in the United States, examining how one democratic movement abolished slavery, while the other entrenched it for decades to come. On November 6, Professor Stephanie M.H. Camp will discuss slavery in the modern United States, highlighting the overwhelming economic significance enslaved labor held for the entire country, not simply the southern states, in the years following the American Revolution. Slavery was a national institution, one that served as the foundation for the growth of American wealth and industrial development, expanding rapidly following the invention of the cotton gin. Camp's lecture will also highlight the role of slavery in the development of a central category of American identity: race. For (Continued on page 3)

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