Thirty-two CIC faculty members this June attended an inaugural program offered by CIC and the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History to discuss the latest issues in slavery studies.
    The participants attended a week-long seminar in June at Columbia University (NY) on "The Slavery Debates: Problems in Slavery Studies Today." They exchanged ideas with one of the most renowned scholars of slavery in the world, David Brion Davis, Sterling Professor of History Emeritus at Yale and director of Yale's Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition. Davis has been awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Nonfiction, the National Book Award for History and Biography, the Bancroft Prize, and numerous other honors.
    The seminar included lectures and discussion groups, a guest presentation on slavery in the Caribbean by Harvard sociology professor Orlando Patterson, and visits to scholarly archives.
    Participants examined the major scholarly works and turning points in the historiographical debates over slavery; new research on the slave trade, slave culture, and resistance; changes in Western culture that made anti-slavery movements a possibility; and the differences among slaveholding regimes in New England, the Chesapeake, the Carolinas, Barbados, and other areas.
    "Strengthening the teaching of American history at colleges and universities—especially on a topic as central to American life as the legacy of slavery—is of critical importance," said CIC President Richard Ekman. "The number of institutions that nominated faculty members who are active as scholars and teachers of this subject or who are leading major efforts at curricular reform on this and related subjects is most impressive. We are most grateful to the Gilder Lehrman Institute for its confidence in CIC member institutions," Ekman said.
    Lesley Herrmann, Executive Director of the Gilder Lehrman Institute, said "The Institute welcomes the chance to work with college faculty members, building on our successful track record of summer seminars for high school teachers and National Park Service rangers. We are delighted to be working with CIC and its faculty members and look forward to building this network to enhance history education throughout the country."
Participants praised the program and also expressed considerable satisfaction at the opportunity for interaction with history colleagues from institutions of a similar size with a mission of undergraduate teaching. They gathered e-mail addresses of colleagues for continued dialogue and collaboration on teaching strategies and research interests.
The success of this seminar will likely lead to future joint programs for faculty members with the Gilder Lehrman Institute, according to Herrmann.

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Last updated: July 5, 2002
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