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Online seminar series examines Reconstruction and its modern-day impact

Emory’s Rose Library and Fox Center for Humanistic Inquiry will host an online panel discussing “Defining the Black Reconstruction Archive” on Oct. 20. The event, moderated by Kimberly Wallace-Sanders, is part of a tribute series honoring Pellom McDaniels III.

The Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives and Rare Book Library and the Fox Center for Humanistic Inquiry invite students, members of the Emory community and the general public to a panel discussion of “Defining the Black Reconstruction Archive” on Tuesday, Oct. 20, at noon.

Attendees can register here to receive a link to the online event.

“Defining the Black Reconstruction Archive” is the first of three panels that will explore the history and significance of Reconstruction. Panelists will highlight how African American archives and Black print culture illuminate the African American experience and shape the stories that are told. They will discuss topics such as using archival collections in their research and African American patriotism and activism. The program will last an hour, with the final 15 minutes reserved for questions.

Panelists include:

  • Barbara Combs, associate professor, Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice, Clark Atlanta University
  • Michelle Gordon, senior lecturer and director of undergraduate studies in the Department of African American Studies, Emory University
  • Randall K. Burkett, retired curator of African American collections for the Rose Library, Emory University
  • Nikki Brown, professor, Department of History, University of Kentucky

Kimberly Wallace-Sanders, associate professor of American Studies and African American Studies at Emory, will moderate the panel.

The Lift Every Voice Seminar Series is part of the Lifting Every Voice Tribute Series in honor of Pellom McDaniels III, former curator of African American collections in the Rose Library. McDaniels, who passed away in April, earned both his master of arts and PhD from Emory. He officially joined Emory Libraries as curator of African American collections in 2012. 

As McDaniels wrote, “In many ways, the questions and events of Reconstruction are the questions of today.” The seminar series explores how the Black Reconstruction archive can expand our understanding of what it means to be an American in 2020.

Additional series co-sponsors are Emory’s Office for Racial and Cultural Engagement and the James Weldon Johnson Institute for the Study of Race and Difference.

For more information about Lifting Every Voice and other related events, please visit Lifting Every Voice: the Pellom McDaniels III 2020-2021 Tribute Series.


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