Study Seminar on the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade to be Offered at Drew University

The year 2014 marks the anniversaries of two significant legal events in the United States:  the legal desegregation of education through the 1954 Supreme Court decision known as Brown vs. the Board of Education and the 1964 Civil Rights legislation which affected multiple aspects of American society. Both legal events may be seen as the culmination of the still-lingering effects of slavery in our country a century after its abolishment.  The impact of slavery on our society can still be felt today; and many of us have only a cursory understanding of the history which led to slavery in the United States in the first place.  With this in mind, the Drew University Center for Holocaust/Genocide Study presents an upcoming three-part Study Seminar entitled, “The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and the Making of the Modern World,” on March 6, March 20, and March 27.

This series will look at how the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade first helped define Europe as we know it today, what role Africa and Africans played in its development and the subsequent development of the Americas.  Legacies of the Slave Trade will also be explored.  Co-sponsored by Drew’s Pan-African Studies program, the Study Seminar is also endorsed by the New Jersey Commission on Holocaust Education.  Six professional development credits for educators will be issued upon completion of the series

The March 6th session will focus on the “Origins and Dynamics of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade,” and will be presented by Dr. E. Obiri Addo, Adjunct Associate Professor of Pan-African Studies and Religious Studies at Drew.  A second session will follow on Thursday, March 20.  Presented by Dr. Lillie Edwards, Drew Professor of History and African-American Studies, this meeting will concentrate on “The Slave Trade and the Development of the Americas.”  A final class on Thursday, March 27 will be look at the “Legacies of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade:  Memory, Culture & Reparations and will be presented by Dr. Michael Gialanella, Adjunct Professor of History at Seton Hall University.  Dr. Larry A. Greene, Professor of History at Seton Hall, will moderate the series.

All sessions are open to members of the general community and will meet between 4 and 6 pm on the Drew campus in Brothers College, Room 120, a handicap accessible classroom.  A fee of $30 per person for all three sessions is requested.  To reserve a spot in the seminar, please contact Yasmin Acosta at the Center for Holocaust/Genocide Study:  call 973408-3600 or email ctrholst@drew.edu.