Feb. 3, 2005

Symposium Addresses How to Teach Slavery

Professor James Horton and Executive Vice President Donald R. Lehman participated in a preview and discussion of the upcoming PBS series “Slavery and the Making of America.” The event was part of a two-and-a-half day symposium at GW exploring new approaches to teaching slavery, Jan. 13.

Primary and secondary educators attended the event — presented by GW and the National Archives and Records Administration, and made possible by the New York Life Foundation — to explore new ways to bring into the classroom some of the breadth and complexity of American slavery as it is being revealed by current scholarship.

PBS series “Slavery and the Making of America” is a four-part series — “The Downward Spiral,” “Liberty in the Air,” “Seeds of Destruction,” and “The Challenge of Freedom” — documenting the history of American slavery from its beginnings in the British colonies to its end in the Southern states and the post-Civil War years. Episode one premieres Feb. 9.

Following the preview of the documentary, Horton led a panel discussion with four of the nation’s leading slavery scholars — David W. Blight, Yale University; Walter Hill, National Archives; Carla Peterson, University of Maryland, and Jesse Nickelson, Benjamin Banneker High School.

Send feedback to: bygeorge@gwu.edu

Related Link

PBS: Slavery and the Making of America