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Legacies of American Slavery

Legacies of American Slavery

an initiative of the Council of Independent Colleges

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  • About UsLearn more about the Council of Independent Colleges and the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition at Yale University.
    • Council of Independent Colleges (CIC)The Council of Independent Colleges is the nation’s leading association of smaller private colleges and universities.
    • Gilder Lehrman Center (GLC)The Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition at the MacMillan Center (Yale University) is dedicated to the investigation and dissemination of knowledge concerning slavery and its legacies across all borders and all time, from the distant past through the present day.
    • Meet the Project Team
    • Funders
  • What is a Legacy?An essay by David Blight.
    • Legacy ThemesThis project is organized around nine “legacy themes” that help define the afterlives of slavery
  • Network MembersSeven private colleges and universities serve as the backbone of a growing national network of higher education institutions and community partners.
    • Regional Collaboration PartnersSeven institutions serve as coordinating hubs for the national network.
    • Institutional AffiliatesTwelve additional colleges and universities support regional activities as part of the Legacies network.
  • ResourcesWhat are CIC institutions doing to reckon with the legacy of slavery? Find resources and examples here.
    • Resource DatabaseA publicly available, searchable, and sortable database of existing resources at independent colleges and universities related to the legacies of slavery.
    • Virtual Symposium (2022)CIC and the Gilder Lehrman Center hosted a virtual symposium on the Legacies of American Slavery in April 2022.
  • OpportunitiesOpportunities to participate in the Legacies of American Slavery initiative.
    • Summer 2023 Programs for Faculty and Staff from CIC Colleges (and Community Partners!)
    • Other Upcoming Events
    • Regional Conference Schedule, Fall 2022

Legacies of American Slavery: Reckoning with the Past is a multi-year initiative, providing a variety of opportunities for CIC member colleges and universities, their faculty members and students, and community-based partners to participate in research, teaching and learning, and public discussions about the multiple legacies of American slavery. Offered in collaboration with the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition at the MacMillan Center at Yale.

What is a Legacy?

An Essay by David Blight (January 2020) — American history has never been for the faint-hearted, nor for those who seek a past that will merely please or entertain—although it may do both. The American past comes to us laden with both enlightenment and terror, with equal parts slavery and…Continue reading “What is a Legacy?”

Reflections

Why Do We Have a Blog?

8 Aug 2022
This blog was created to support the larger work of CIC's Legacies of American Slavery initiative—i.e., to help CIC member colleges and universities; their faculty, staff, and students; and the…
Links and Resources

The Resource Database

14 Jul 20228 Aug 2022
The Legacies of American Slavery network is much bigger than the seven Regional Collaboration Partners. Many CIC member colleges and universities are reckoning with the legacies of slavery through original…
Links and Resources

Legacies links for June 1, 2023: memories of Lincoln, Black cuisine, health inequities, and more memories

1 Jun 20231 Jun 2023
As always, we encourage you to share this post. A link does not imply agreement or endorsement by the Council of Independent Colleges. Samford Biggers, "Lifting the Veil" (2023). source:…
Reflections

Investigating North Nashville

24 May 202323 May 2023
Aerial view of the Fisk University campus and the North Nashville neighborhood beyond (1946). source: Jefferson Street Photo Project, Fisk Special Collections Guest contributor: Katharine A. Burnett (Fisk University) At…
Links and Resources

Legacies links for May 22, 2023: Desegregation, Confederate nostalgia, and other ways of remembering and forgetting the past

22 May 202322 May 2023
As always, we encourage you to share this post. A link does not imply agreement or endorsement by the Council of Independent Colleges. Clinton, Tennessee, 1956: Two years after the…
Links and Resources

Legacies links for May 15, 2023: Petrochemicals, prisons, and psychology

15 May 202315 May 2023
As always, we encourage you to share this post. A link does not imply agreement or endorsement by the Council of Independent Colleges. The industrial stretch of the Mississippi River…
Links and Resources

Legacies links for May 8, 2023: horseracing, Vermont, and Tampa Bay all have obscured Black histories

8 May 20238 May 2023
As always, we encourage you to share this post. A link does not imply agreement or endorsement by the Council of Independent Colleges. Edward Troye, Portrait of the Racehorse 'Tobacconist'…
Links and Resources

6 Stops on the Underground Railroad on (or near) CIC Member Campuses

4 May 20233 May 2023
The Underground Railroad was an informal network of secret routes and hiding spaces used by thousands of African Americans in the nineteenth century to escape from slavery to the Northern…
Links and Resources

Legacies links for May 1, 2023: Black artists and news from CIC members

1 May 2023
As always, we encourage you to share this post. A link does not imply agreement or endorsement by the Council of Independent Colleges. Hank Willis Thomas, Then Is Now (2017).…
Updates from the Network

Don’t Say Their Names? What Happens When College Buildings Bear the Names of Racists

26 Apr 202326 Apr 2023
What's in a name? It's difficult—sometimes even wrenching—for institutions of higher learning to reconsider the names and legacies of founders, donors, and other individuals who are prominently featured on their…
Links and Resources

Legacies links for April 24, 2023: banjos, secrets, and credit scores

24 Apr 2023
As always, we encourage you to share this post. A link does not imply agreement or endorsement by the Council of Independent Colleges. Henry Ossawa Tanner, The Banjo Lesson (1893).…
Links and Resources

Legacies links for April 17, 2023: Obscured histories of slavery from Maine to West Virginia

17 Apr 202317 Apr 2023
As always, we encourage you to share this post. A link does not imply agreement or endorsement by the Council of Independent Colleges. In 2017, Sewanee: The University of the…

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Council of Independent Colleges

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legaciesproject@cic.edu #CICLegacies
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Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed on this site do not necessarily represent those of the NEH.

 

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