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Some Histories of American Slavery
- Neil K. R. Sehgal and Ashwini Sehgal, “Many wealthy members of Congress are descendants of rich slaveholders—new study demonstrates the enduring legacy of slavery,” The Conversation (October 23, 2024): LINK. Based on genealogical research and financial data from congressional disclosures, scholars reveal that current members of Congress who are descendants of slaveholders are significantly wealthier than members of Congress who do not have a family history of enslaving other people.
- “South Carolina to build first monument to an African American. Meet Robert Smalls,” The Grio (October 23, 2024): LINK. South Carolina is finally honoring Robert Smalls, an African American who “liberated” a Confederate ship and sailed his family to freedom during the Civil War. He later represented South Carolina as a Republican member of Congress for several terms in the 1870s and 1880s. The new statue will be on the Statehouse lawn.
- Rachel Petroziello, “The Author’s Corner with Timothy Messer-Kruse,” Current (October 23, 2024): LINK. A discussion about Messer-Kruse’s new book, Slavery’s Fugitives and the Making of the United States Constitution (LSU Press, 2024). He argues that the Constitutional Convention became necessary, in part, because “several key states [refused] to abide by the terms of the Treaty of Paris with Great Britain. Their refusal…was sparked by Great Britain’s refusal to hand back to their masters thousands of fugitives from slavery.”
- Rachel Petroziello, “The Author’s Corner with Jonathan Lande,” Current (October 22, 2024): LINK. Jonathan Lande discusses his new book. Freedom Soldiers: The Emancipation of Black Soldiers in Civil War Camps, Courts, and Prisons (Oxford University Press, 2024): “[Although] military service provided enslaved men the chance to courageously battle their former enslavers, emancipation within the ranks was an ongoing process.”
For Halloween: Some Favorite Stories about Slavery and Ghosts
- Rickey Bevington and Sophia Saliby, “Georgia Ghosts: A Slave Who Sings For His Lost Love,” Georgia Public Broadcasting (October 31, 2018): LINK. Tour guides in a small Georgia town perpetuate the unfortunate ghost story surrounding the deadly resistance of an enslaved man as he tried to protect the dignity of his wife from an enslaver.
- Kirsty Logan, “A History of Ghosts, Episode 6: The Whitewashed Ghost,” BBC (October 26, 2020): LINK (podcast). “If you tour a plantation in the Southern States of the USA, you might hear the tale of a black ghost. Black ghost stories are very popular on tours, generating income not just from tickets, but even from merchandise…. The result, is often a whitewashing of troublesome history, a cover-up of things people in the modern day still do not want to face.”
- Amber Morgan, “Inside the History of Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau’s Tomb—And Why It’s Constantly Vandalized,” All That’s Interesting (October 22, 2024): LINK. Marie Laveau (1801-1881), a Creole woman and a prominent religious figure in New Orleans, is entombed in the oldest cemetery in the city. Tourists (and vandals) come there to leave an X on her tomb or commit various acts of desecration, forcing the cemetery’s caretakers to close it to the public.
Global Reparations
- Catarina Demony, “Slavery reparations: Where do Europe and the United States stand?” Reuters (October 25, 2024): LINK. Caribbean and African nations are calling on former colonial powers to apologize, cancel debt, and claim responsibility for slavery. The article reviews the state of official discussions about reparations in seven countries, including the United States.
- “King Charles says past can’t be changed. Critics want Britain to reckon with slavery,” NPR (October 25, 2024): LINK. The United Kingdom has never formally apologized for its role in the transatlantic slave trade and has dismissed calls from Caribbean countries and other Commonwealth nations to explicitly discuss Britain’s role in upholding slavery.
Faith Communities Also Reckoning with Slavery
- Chad Nielsen, “Was Slavery Practiced in Utah Territory?” From the Desk (October 23, 2024): LINK. “In this interview, [Mormon historians] W. Paul Reeve and Christopher B. Rich discuss the history of unfree labor in Utah Territory,” plus the lingering impact of slavery (and race) on the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
- “A Report on The Falls Church’s Ties to Slavery, 1730s-1860s,” The Falls Church Episcopal Church (October 21, 2024): LINK. An Episcopalian congregation in Northern Virginia has published an exemplary historical report on how the local church benefited, both directly and indirectly, from slavery.