Between 2020 and 2025, Centenary College in Shreveport, LA, served as a Regional Collaboration Partner in CIC’s Legacies of American Slavery network. The institutional team focused on the theme of Race, Health, and Medicine—but also led students on a journey into the history of slavery and race relations at the college (as described in the videos below). Projects included a walking tour and exhibit about the racialized history of healthcare in Shreveport; new undergraduate courses about medical ethics, race and biology, and archives-based historical research; a virtual teaching circle for college instructors across the region; and a collaboration with the local medical school to improve teaching about health inequities for future healthcare professionals at all levels.
An overview of activities undertaken by Centenary College as part of CIC’s Legacies of American Slavery initiative. The presentation was recorded during the Independent Colleges & The Legacies of Slavery conference in Memphis, TN, on September 20, 2024.
Download the presentation slides
Reflections on the Legacies initiative by Christopher Ciocchetti, Chris Brown, and Jama Grove
From the project team’s final report:
When this project began, we hoped to thoroughly integrate teaching about the legacies of American slavery into Centenary’s premedical curriculum. Our initial team included people from all three academic divisions on campus (Humanities, Social Sciences, and the Natural Sciences). We knew that we couldn’t convey a lot of information to our students; we couldn’t just teach them the facts they would need to know. Instead, we sought to build a habit of asking questions about the legacies of slavery. …
By the end of the project, only one of the original three faculty members remained. But we made sure our work was disseminated on campus and off, so when someone did leave, people had heard about our project and maybe even participated in one of our events. We could find new people to participate because we knew about each other. It did not take long to integrate new people.
From Prof. Ciocchetti: Throughout the project, I was most struck by the little details. I had driven past some empty lots for years and seen the police station near downtown without realizing they were originally the sites of some of the first Black medical institutions in Shreveport. We learned to connect names and faces with broad historical trends. I found these stories much more compelling when I could tell the story of a particular doctor. Hearing about how they came together to provide medical care during some of the most difficult times in Shreveport helped me think about what we should be doing today. It gave me hope and made me feel less isolated and more a part of a larger community.
👁This is part of a series of reflections on the Legacies initiative.