2021 Slave Dwelling Project Conference: Changing Narratives in Changing Times

The Slave Dwelling Project, like so many museums, historic sites, and institutions of higher learning, entered 2020 with robust and ambitious plans. We were well on our way to celebrating our 10th anniversary by organizing a fall conference on the theme “Ten Years of Changing Narratives.” But the outbreak of COVID-19 dictated the postponement of those conference plans and the adjustment of our work to the realities of social distancing and remote communication.
During 2020, people around the world were also confronted with the appalling murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Rayshard Brooks, and too many others. An array of changes followed: Confederate monuments rapidly came down; iconic images of Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben were removed from product packaging, and some notable names were changed. Lady Antebellum became Lady A, and The Dixie Chicks simply called themselves The Chicks. Despite some resistance, the 1619 Project continued to challenge the White male historical narrative in this country. Internationally, England’s National Trust began examining that country’s relationship to slavery and colonialism, and in Brussels, the Royal Museum for Central Africa confronted its representation of colonized African and indigenous peoples.
Here in the United States, museums, historic sites, institutions of higher learning, and the Slave Dwelling Project have acknowledged our shared and urgent responsibility to contribute to the historical narrative and address the issues at the heart of the present-day social justice movement. Therefore, our sixth national Slave Dwelling Project Conference—to be held virtually September 30 through October 2, 2021—will focus on this question: What are we doing now and what will we continue to do to change the narrative in changing times?

The 13th Amendment Passes in the U.S. House!

150 years ago this weekend, slavery in the United States was dealt a deadly blow. On January 31st, 1865, the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was passed in the House of Representatives (it had passed in the Senate in April of the previous year) by a vote of 119 to 56. The amendment, which formally abolished slavery in the United States, could then be put before the states for ratification. While the Emancipation Proclamation had only freed the slaves in the Confederacy, the 13th Amendment made the abolition of slavery a national policy. The amendment reads simply:

“Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.”

With just these few words, upon its ratification in December 1865 the amendment promulgated the death of slavery in the United States. The February 1st edition of The New York Tribune described the scene in Congress upon the amendment’s passage, saying “the tumult of joy that broke out was vast, thundering, and uncontrollable.  Representatives and Auditors on the floor, soldiers and spectators in the gallery, Senators and Supreme Court Judges, women and pages, gave way to the excitement of the most august and important event in American Legislation and American History since the Declaration of Independence. God Bless the XXXVIIIth Congress!”

Yet it was clear to some that more would be needed to secure true freedom for the former slaves. Arguing against the disbandment of the American Anti-Slavery Society, Frederick Douglass stated that “even if every State in the Union had ratified that Amendment, while the black man is confronted in the legislation of the South by the word ‘white,’ our work as abolitionists, as I conceive it, is not done.” Douglass had the foresight to realize that despite the major victory that was the 13th Amendment’s passage, there was still much work to be done before blacks in the newly-reunited States would be truly free.

News from H-Net: Humanities and Social Sciences Online

Below you’ll find news from the H-Atlantic section of the Humanities and Social Sciences Online, as well as links for the various bits of news.

New Book on Atlantic Slavery and Childhood:

In his new book Amistad’s Orphans: An Atlantic Story of Children, Slavery, and Smuggling (Yale University Press), Benjamin N. Lawrance reconstructs the stories of the six children aboard the schooner La Amistad whose lives were forever altered by the slave revolt. By exploring their stories, Lawrance sheds new light on Atlantic slavery, slave smuggling, and child slavery in the nineteenth century.

https://networks.h-net.org/node/16821/discussions/58492/ann-new-book-atlantic-slavery-childhood-list-member

 

New Online Collections in Atlantic World history from Readex and the Library Company of Philadelphia:

Readex, in partnership with the Library Company of Philadelphia, will launch three new collections in March of 2015: African History and Culture, 1540-1921; Black Authors, 1556-1922; and Caribbean History and Culture, 1535-1920, each of which is based on the Library Company’s preeminent Afro-Americana collection.

https://networks.h-net.org/node/16821/discussions/58514/new-online-collections-atlantic-world-history-readex-and-library

 

Faculty and Postdoctoral Fellowships from the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition:

Yale University’s Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition desires applications for its 2015-2016 Fellowship Program. The GLC seeks to promote an understanding of the institution of slavery from the earliest times to the present day, and especially welcomes proposals that would utilize Yale University’s special collections or other research collections in the New England area. For more details about fellowship requirements and application process, follow the link:

https://networks.h-net.org/node/16821/discussions/58603/fund-postdoctoral-and-faculty-fellowships-2015-2016-gilder-lehrman

 

Also, for those doing research on Atlantic World society or economy, this fellowship might be of interest to you: https://networks.h-net.org/node/16821/discussions/58623/deadline-approaching-program-early-american-economy-and-society