slavery

The Entanglement of Art and Slavery in the Work of Juan de Pareja

by Rachel Hunter Himes

Diego Velázquez painted the portrait of Juan de Pareja in 1650. An art historian considers what more we can learn about the painting and the world in which it was made by examining the paradox of a dignified and beatific portrayal of a man painted by another man who enslaved him. 

New Research Shows British Industrialization Drew Ironworking Methods from Colonized and Enslaved Jamaicans

A process for producing wrought iron from scrap had been credited to Henry Cort. But Cort likely adopted it from a Jamaican works operated by 76 Black metallurgists, including enslaved workers. 

July 4 Was Once a Day of Protest by the Enslaved

by Matt Clavin

The public declarations of freedom and political equality that accompanied Independence Day were a prompt for protest, escape, and rebellion for the enslaved. 

Texas Politicians Want to Erase What Happened Between Juneteenth and Jim Crow

by Jeffrey L. Littlejohn and Zachary Montz

Joshua Houston, long enslaved by Sam Houston, recognized that the collective work of securing freedom only began with the announcement of emancipation, and that teaching the state's history honestly was part of the struggle for an egalitarian society against people determined to stand against it. 

Rachel Swarns Traces the Ties of Slavery and the American Catholic Church

Following up on a blockbuster 2016 Times article, Swarns's book examines the histories of families with ancestors who were sold by Maryland Jesuits to shore up the order's finances (including the fledgling Georgetown University). 

Determined to Remember: Harriet Jacobs and Slavery's Descendants

by Koritha Mitchell

Public history sites have the potential to spark intellectual engagement because when they make embodied connections between people and the sites they visit—even when those connections evoke the cruelty of the past. 

British Universities are Researching Ties to Slavery. Conservative Alumni Say "Enough"

Historian Nicolas Bell-Romero found that influential Cambridge backers were happy to learn of the links between the university and famous abolitionists, but not on the university's historical links to an imperial elite that benefitted from the slave trade, part of a broad battle about the politics of British history. 

Historian Don Yacovone: Florida's Restrictions Echo the Demands to Teach Pro-Slavery Argument

Jamelle Bouie's newsletter puts the current Florida controversy in light of a previous era's political demands about the teaching of history to justify one group's domination of another. 

Trinity College Dublin will Rename Berkeley Library to Stop Honoring Slaver

Trinity College Provost Linda Doyle said that the college was not erasing the contributions of George Berkeley to philosophy and Irish intellectual life, but would no longer honor him with a building. 

A Painful Shared Bond: Their Ancestors were Enslaved by Robert E. Lee

Descendants of people enslaved by Robert E. Lee have met with his other descendants in an effort to expand dialogue about the public history presented at Arlington House, with the guidance of historian Susan Glisson. 

We Must Not Revive Slavery-Era Jurisprudence to Deal with the Complexities of Reproductive Technology

by Tamika Y. Nunley

The use of antebellum laws about the ownership of human property to resolve a dispute between a divorcing couple over frozen embryos shows the necessity of fully addressing women's reproductive freedom under the law rather than seeking simple abstractions of property. 

Documents Confirm Direct Ancestors of King Charles III Involved in Slave Trade

Researcher Desirée Baptiste discovered documents of the sale of 200 Africans in Virginia to the family of the late Queen Mother. 

New Phillis Wheatley Biography Reclaims Her Role as an Antislavery Thinker

by Tiya Miles

With David Waldstreicher's book, "there can now be no doubt of Wheatley’s importance not only to African America but also to the country and culture as a whole," alongside Paine, Jefferson and Franklin. 

Thomas Jefferson's Secret Plan to Whiten Virginia

by Timothy Messer-Kruse

After the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson returned from the Continental Congress to a seat in the Virginia legislature, where he undertook an ambitious effort to overhaul the laws. His work is an illuminating look at Jefferson's vision of the ideal American republic as a place purged of both slavery and of Black people. 

Restored Thomas Jefferson Estate Shows Handiwork of Enslaved Artisan John Hemings

The third president's house at Poplar Forest was restored based in part on archival correspondence between Jefferson and James Hemings detailing the finish carpentry to be completed. 

When Truly Stolen Elections Changed the Course of American History

by Stan Haynes

A massive conspiracy to bring in outside voters successfully stole an election everyone thought was vital to the fate of the country. It wasn't your state in 2020, but the Kansas Territory in 1854 and 1855.

Gullah Geechee of Sea Islands Fight for their Post-Slavery Legacy

by DeNeen L Brown

The Gullah Geechee people were chosen for enslavement in the Sea Islands because of their experience cultivating rice in Africa, and maintained a distinctive culture with strong African elements through slavery and emancipation. Development and gentrification threaten that legacy today. 

Why Everyone Born in the US is a Citizen, and Why it Matters

by Amanda Frost

In upholding birthright citizenship in the case of US v. Wong Kim Ark, the court invoked English common law, rather than claims to citizenship rights and freedom by escaped slaves, as the foundation of the 14th Amendment's definition of citizenship. This makes the principle vulnerable when it should be unassailable. 

Citing Slavery-Era Property Law, VA Judge Rules Embryos are Property

A bioethicist argued that the judge could have resolved a property dispute without reference to chattel slavery, and that invoking the statue was offensive. 

Portraying the Women Leaders of Slave Rebellions

Rebecca Hall, author of a new graphic history, says women warriors and rebels have been portrayed as exceptions proving the rule instead of as freedom fighters.