Leslie M. Harris, "Slavery and the University: Histories and Legacies" (U Georgia Press, 2019)
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What is the focus of the book “Slavery and the University: Histories and Legacies”?
Hello everybody, this is Marshall Poe. I'm the editor of the New Books Network, and as you know, we have a channel on the network called the New Books Network Seminar, and on that channel we feature books that we believe will be of interest to everyone who listens to the NBN. Today we're featuring a book called Slavery in the University: Histories and Legacies. I know that many of you who listen to the NBN are college teachers, and certainly most of you have been to universities. One of the editors of the book, Leslie Harris, and the host of New Books in African American Studies, Adam McNeil, had a very interesting discussion about the book that I thought all of you would like to hear. Without further ado, here's the interview.
Welcome to New Books and African American Studies, a podcast channel of the New Books Network. I'm your host, Adam McNeil. On today's podcast, I have Dr. Leslie M. Harris on to discuss her new co-edited volume, Slavery in the University, Histories and Legacies, published by the University of Georgia Press. Welcome to the show, Dr. Harris. How are you doing today?
I'm great. Thanks so much for having me on.
Outstanding. Outstanding. Uh before we get into your co-edited volume, can we hear about the Genesis story of this particular project?
Sure. And I you know, it's tied of course to the larger movement on slavery and universities. And so I would have to say that there isn't a one Genesis story for the project. Part of the work and influences that are reflected in the volume grew out of a broader reexamination of the history of slavery and the meaning of reparations. Um of course that's a conversation that's been ongoing since the end of slavery, but it heated up again in the late nineteen nineties as scholars and activists began looking at institutions like banks and insurance companies as connected to slavery. And so that inspired people in various universities. Part of the influence is also, I would say, the end of apartheid in South Africa and the work of reconciliation, particularly represented by Bishop Desmond Tutu and others, and that highlighted on a global stage forms of reconciliation that have been gone ongoing for decades in other locations, but
People became more aware of that. And then there were, of course, more immediately scholars and scholar activists in the late nineties and early two thousands. Most people think of Brown University. But even before Brown, uh grad students and staff at Yale had investigated the ways you the university celebrated its anti-slavery past while ignoring its slavery past. And then at Emory University, which is where I was when we began this work, Mark Auslander for several years had investigated not only the history of slavery, but also of the use of uh black labor during the Jim Crow era and other forms of racism in the history. history of Emory University. Most immediately at Emory, I um in I guess launched in two thousand five um something called the Transforming Community Project, which was a response to a year of uh racial tension at Emory.
Um and a group of us began having conversations about the racial history of Emory and our experiences at Emory. And out of that came up with this idea to build a project that would give anyone in the university community the opportunity to learn about the history of race at Emory, which people felt they didn't know much about at all, and then think about how they wanted to take that knowledge into day-to-day activism. So I ran the trans co-directed the Transforming Community project for about six or seven years. We built on Mark Outslanders' research. research and the research of community members and two postdocs we hired with Ford Foundation funding. And out of the Transforming Community Project, I also became involved and got to know people like Jim Campbell at Brown, who was heading up the work there, Al Brophy at University of Alabama, who led the first effort, we believe, in the nation, where a university body apologized for slavery, in that case, the Faculty Senate apologized.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the focus of the book “Slavery and the University: Histories and Legacies”?
0:00–8:45
2
How did the idea for the edited volume and the 2011 conference originate?
8:45–16:26
3
Who contributed to the volume and how were the contributors selected?
16:26–24:39
4
How is the book organized and what major themes does each section explore?
24:39–32:07
5
In what ways was slavery practiced on college campuses compared to plantations?
32:07–38:26
6
Why is graduate‑student activism crucial to uncovering university slavery histories?
38:26–45:20
7
What legacy does the volume identify and how can universities act on it today?
45:20–51:00
8
What new research projects is Leslie Harris pursuing after this book?
51:00–58:07
Speakers
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