Gerst Program Holds Lecture on the Legacy of Slavery

Stanley L. Engerman, professor of economics and professor of history at the University of Rochester, will speak on "Slavery, Emancipation, and Freedom." In his new book of the same title, Engerman succinctly synthesizes current scholarship and addresses questions that are critical to understanding the nature of slavery: Why did slavery arise, and how, why, where, and when did it legally end? What impact did slavery have on the enslaved? Was the impact lingering or was it reversed by the provision of freedom?

Engerman's talk will be at 10 a.m. Friday, Sept. 21, in the White Auditorium on East Campus.

Engerman begins his study by discussing slavery from a global perspective. He reminds us of the ubiquity of slavery throughout the world, challenging the stereotype that it was only the American South's "peculiar institution." Using the same broad comparative and temporal approach to discuss emancipation, he shows how emancipation in the southern states, several decades after it began in other parts of the world, both differed from and mirrored abolition around the globe.

"Slavery, Emancipation, and Freedom" is an important confrontation with America's and the world's past and present. Both the breadth and depth of this brief, incisive treatise demonstrate why Engerman is considered one of America's most insightful and respected scholars.

This lecture is sponsored by the Gerst Program in Political, Economic, and Humanistic Studies. For more information, contact Aimee Rodriguez of the Kenan Institute for Ethics at 919-660-3033.