Slavery in Delaware symposium to convene Nov. 13
The Lewes Historical Society will hold its first symposium, titled A Long and Lasting Shame: Slavery in Delaware 1700-1865, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 13, at Hotel Rodney in Lewes.
The all-day event will present research undertaken by academics and independent scholars in multiple disciplines on the theme of enslavement in Delaware from late Colonial America to ratification of the 13th Amendment.
“A long and lasting shame” is a phrase used by John Lofland, the bard of Milford, in his passionate address to the Delaware Legislature 39 years before the country abolished slavery.
Presentations by 12 prominent speakers from the Delaware region and New York will include political, social, cultural, legal, literary and biographical approaches, as well as recognition of notable library collections.
The keynote lecture by Kathryn Benjamin Golden is titled “Enslaved Resistance, Community, and Escape: Everyday Refusal and Organized Opposition in the First State.” Benjamin Golden is an assistant professor of Africana Studies at the University of Delaware whose work focuses on interdisciplinary research and teaching that urges critical connections between early histories of Black opposition and the unfinished business of freedom.
The focus for the inaugural symposium was chosen by Lewes Historical Society Executive Director James Abbott. The society’s publications editor, Bill Meehan, who organized the program, recalls discovering Lofland’s words spoken almost two centuries ago. “The line jumped out to me, because it captures Delaware’s disgraceful resistance to abolition,” he said. Delaware was the last state to recognize the 13th Amendment.
Details for the daylong symposium, including biographies of presenters, are available on the Lewes Historical Society website, historiclewes.org.
Space is limited. The cost to attend is $75 per person and includes lunch. Registration is required at historiclewes.org.
For more information, email symposium@historiclewes.org.
