As always, the editorial team here at the Legacies blog encourages you to share the post with friends, students, colleagues, etc. A link does not imply agreement or endorsement by the Council of Independent Colleges.
News about CIC Members:
- Miles Dame, “Furman’s Legacy of Slavery Digital Exhibition,” Furman University (November 1, 2023): LINK. At CIC member Furman University (Greenville, South Carolina), an archivist has just completed work on a digital exhibition related to the university’s connection with slavery.
- Mallory Challis, “‘The Prayers of Both Could Not Be Answered’: The history of slavery at Wake Forest University and the Baptist church,” Baptist News Global (October 30, 2023): LINK. Primarily focused on Wake Forest’s examination of its own history of slavery, this article also mentions the complicated, entangled history of the Southern Baptist tradition and slavery at CIC member Wingate University (Wingate, North Carolina).
- Brooke Knoll and Sam Wisman, “A new choral work acknowledges a racial reckoning at Missouri’s William Jewell College,” NPR (October 30, 2023): LINK. “The Canon for Racial Reconciliation,” is part of the ongoing effort at CIC member William Jewell College (Liberty, Missouri) “to reckon with the institution’s racial history.” Bringing together students from the music department and local choral groups, the composition “melds Orthodox liturgy with gospel sounds.”
- Carolyn Wilson, “Emory & Henry students research the history of Black laborers at the school,” Cardinal News (October 9, 2023): LINK. Student researchers at CIC member Emory & Henry College (Emory, Virginia) have recovered “the names of 371 enslaved and free persons of color who worked during the founding of the college from 1836 to 1865.” The result is a new documentary video.
Other links:
- Darryl Fears, “Dozens of bird names honoring enslavers and racists will be changed,” The Washington Post (November 1, 2023): LINK. “The American Ornithological Society announced … that it will remove names given to North American birds in honor of people and replace them with monikers that better describe their plumage and other characteristics. The group said it will prioritize birds whose names trace to enslavers, white supremacists and robbers of Indigenous graves.”
- Caroline M. Bailey, “(Un)safe Spaces: The Relationship Between Slavery and Sexual Victimization of Black Women,” PubMed (October 30, 2023): LINK. “In line with the ‘legacy effect’ framework, the findings from the current study suggest that Black women are significantly more likely to be sexually victimized in counties characterized by larger enslaved populations in 1860. These findings illuminate how historical institutions, despite being outlawed, have contemporary consequences, particularly for Black women.”
- Teo Armus and Hadley Green, “Charlottesville’s Lee statue meets its end, in a 2,250-degree furnace,” The Washington Post (October 26, 2023): LINK. The Robert E. Lee statue in Charlottesville, Virginia—infamous for prompting the deadly Unite the Right rally—was secretly melted down at a small foundry outside the state. The bronze ingots made from the statue’s remains will be turned into a new piece of public artwork.
- Jerald Podair, “Back in the 1960s, the push for parental rights over school standards was not led by white conservatives but by Black and Latino parents,” The Conversation (October 26, 2023): LINK. “[T]he very thing that parental rights advocates are fighting to exclude [today] is the very thing that parental rights groups of the 1960s fought to have included: an accurate reflection of the role that Black people played in the shaping of American history and culture.” The author teaches at CIC member Lawrence University (Appleton, Wisconsin).