From March 15-18, UNC will host a conference with the “Universities Studying Slavery”, a group of more than 100 institutions committed to critical reexaminations of their own past with regards to enslavement in the United States. The conference, organized by the committee on History, Race, and a Way Forward (HRWF), this conference is intended to bring together local activists and organizers, including faculty, staff, students, and community members from North Carolina and beyond who have engaged with the question of universities’ relationship with slavery.
UNC history professor James Leloudis and UNC Communications professor Patricia Parker, co-chairs of HRWF, explained in an interview with The Well that this Conference provides a way for UNC-CH to be part of a national and global conversation on the legacies of racial slavery. Leloudis notes that the Conference is a chance to “pause and reflect” on UNC’s historic relationship to racial slavery while also trying to understand how to “imagine and create the sort of institution we want to work in today.”
The Conference will take place March 15 – 18 at UNC and the registration deadline is March 3. You can find out more about on the schedule of events, which includes traditional panels, performances and presentations, as well as site visits and local historical tours including tours of the Unsung Founders Memorial.
You can more in a recent article in The Well, which provides more details on the conference schedule and the full interview with Drs. Leloudis and Parker.