EDWARDSVILLE – Southern Illinois University Edwardsville’s Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation (TRHT) Campus Center, specifically its membership of the international Universities Studying Slavery (USS) consortium, continues its Sankofa Lecture and Dialogue Series with a virtual discussion, entitled “Myths of Slavery.”
The ongoing series features robust conversations surrounding the history of slavery and its lasting legacies. “Myths of Slavery” will be hosted via Zoom at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 5 and presented by Robert Paulett, PhD, associate professor in the Department of History.
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Among the topics that Paulett will address is the idea of what ‘slavery’ means, and notions that “Africans sold their own into slavery,” “Africans and Native Americans had slaves, too,” or “The Irish were enslaved.”
“Our modern conception of the practice of slavery is shaped by the plantation system of slavery, and it is often assumed that all slavery was similar in kind,” Paulett said. “This leads us to misunderstand what slavery was like in other cultures and places, and leads to other myths that cloud our present-day debates over the legacy of slavery.”
“I will discuss and compare the different forms of unfree/captive labor in Europe, Africa and the Americas in the colonial era, as well as the development of the racialized plantation system that came to dominate British America in particular,” he added.
Paulett’s goals are to help participants understand what came before and what developed in the colonial context that created unique legacies for those living in a country that inherited that racialized plantation system. Additionally, he aims to leave participants feeling better informed about how systems of unfree labor adapted and changed.
“These myths have been invoked repeatedly over the past year in conversations surrounding the New York Time’s ‘1619 Project,’ so they are in our current conversation about that project and the larger consideration of the legacies of slavery in America,” Paulett explained. “These myths are often used to deflect responsibility for slavery’s legacies onto others, and often onto those who were targeted for colonization—Africans and Native Americans.
“I want participants to have a clearer understanding about what has changed in North America, and thus, what has been handed down to us from the people who built this new system of plantation slavery and the many laws and institutions that we carry with us today.”
Anyone interested in this important subject is encouraged to attend. Registration is available at https://siue.zoom.us/webinar/ register/WN_n-pRhZP- S2OF1QFMA70b8w.
The Sankofa Lecture and Dialogue Series is one of the University’s many anti-racism initiatives. For more information on the TRHT and its future programs and initiatives, visit siue.edu/provost/trht.
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville provides students with a high quality, affordable education that prepares them for successful careers and lives of purpose to shape a changing world. Built on the foundation of a broad-based liberal education, and enhanced by hands-on research and real-world experiences, the academic preparation SIUE students receive equips them to thrive in the global marketplace and make our communities better places to live. Situated on 2,660 acres of beautiful woodland atop the bluffs overlooking the natural beauty of the Mississippi River’s rich bottomland and only a short drive from downtown St. Louis, the SIUE campus is home to a diverse student body of nearly 13,000.
