skip to main content
University of Mississippi Slavery Research Group
The University of Mississippi

UMSRG Co-Hosts USS Fall 2018 Meeting with Tougaloo College

The University of Mississippi Slavery Research Group is delighted to be hosting the Universities Studying Slavery (USS) Fall 2018 Meeting with Tougaloo College on October 24-26, 2018.

This event kicks off with an opening reception at the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum on the evening of Wednesday, October 24 at 5PM that includes a keynote address by Jemar Tisby, author of The Color of Compromise: The Truth about the American Church’s Complicity in Racism and a reception generously sponsored by the Brown University Office of Institutional Equity and Diversity.

The next two days, Thursday, October 25th and Friday, October 26th, will feature roundtables and panels with community members as well as faculty, staff, and students from colleges and universities around the country. A full program of events is included below.

UNIVERSITIES STUDYING SLAVERY
FALL MEETING
“UNIVERSITIES, SLAVERY, RESPOND, AND REPAIR”
OCTOBER 24-26, 2018

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2018
All events at the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum, 222 North St., Jackson, Mississippi

5:00pm-6:00pm Museum Visit and Registration

6:00pm-7:00pm Light Refreshments and Opening Program

Acknowledgments: John Rosenthall
President, Tougaloo College Research and Development Foundation

Welcome: Edward Blackmon
Chairman, Tougaloo College Research and Development Foundation

Introduction of Keynote Speaker: Anne Twitty, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of History, University of Mississippi

“You Go to School Where?!: A Black Student’s Perspective on Mississippi and the
Confederacy”
Keynote Speaker: Jemar Tisby
Author, The Color of Compromise: The Truth about the American Church’s Complicity in Racism

7:00pm-9:00pm Museum Visit and Networking Reception
Sponsored by the Brown University President’s Office and the Brown University Office of Institutional Equity and Diversity

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2018
All events on the campus of Tougaloo College, 500 West County Line Rd., Tougaloo, Mississippi

8:00am-12:30pm Registration and Continental Breakfast
Bennie G. Thompson Academic and Civil Rights Research Center Foyer

8:00am-9:00am USS Business Meeting
Bennie G. Thompson Brown Conference Room

9:00am-10:00am Presidential Plenary
Bennie G. Thompson Academic and Civil Rights Research Center Lecture Hall

“Universities, Slavery, Respond, and Repair”

Moderator: John Rosenthall
President of the Tougaloo College Research and Development Foundation

Beverly Hogan
President of Tougaloo College

Jeffrey Vitter
Chancellor of the University of Mississippi

Cynthia Warwick
President of Stillman College

10:00am-10:15am Morning Break
Bennie G. Thompson Academic and Civil Rights Research Center Foyer

10:15am-11:30am Featured Roundtable
Bennie G. Thompson Academic and Civil Rights Research Center Lecture Hall

“Building Reparative Initiatives across Institutions”

Moderator: John Rosenthall
President of the Tougaloo College Research and Development Foundation

Jody Lynn Allen, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of History
Director, The Lemon Project: A Journey of Reconciliation
The College of William & Mary

Joseph Ferrara, Ph.D.
Vice President and Chief of Staff
Georgetown University

Kirt von Daacke, Ph.D
Assistant Dean and Professor of History, College of Arts & Sciences
Co-Chair, President’s Commission on Slavery and the University
Co-Chair, President’s Commission on the University in the Age of Segregation University of Virginia

11:30am-12:30pm Lunch
Holmes Hall Auditorium

Welcome: Wesley F. Prater, M.D.
Chairman, Tougaloo College Board of Trustees

Update on Universities Studying Slavery: Kirt von Daacke, Ph.D.
Assistant Dean and Professor of History, College of Arts & Sciences
Co-Chair, President’s Commission on Slavery and the University
Co-Chair, President’s Commission on the University in the Age of Segregation University of Virginia

12:30pm-2:00pm Panel Session 1

Panel 1A: History, Memory, and the Institutional Allies and Enemies of HBCUs
Bennie G. Thompson Academic and Civil Rights Research Center Lecture Hall

Chair: Anne Twitty, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of History, University of Mississippi

“Founding Myths and Federal Money: Narratives of Slavery and Reconstruction and the
Funding of White and Black Colleges in post-World War II Mississippi”
Jack Carey, Ph.D.
Independent Scholar

“Fit for Freedom but not for Friendship?: An Introductory Exploration of Quaker Education,
African-American Opportunity, and HBCUs”
Gwen Gosney Erickson
College Archivist, Guilford College

“Renewing the Vanguard: Reviving the Critical Relationship Between Historic Black Religious
Institutions and HBCUs in Mississippi and Beyond”
C. Edward Rhodes, D.Min.
Director of Student Religious Life, Alcorn State University

Panel 1B: Documenting Slavery on Campus
Brown Conference Room: Bennie G. Thompson Academic and Civil Rights Research Center

Chair: Kelly Kennington, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of History, Auburn University

“Scarlet and Black: Remembrance and Systemic Repair at Rutgers University”
Miya Carey, Ph.D.
Scarlet & Black Postdoctoral Fellow

“The Past is Never Past: The Hallowed Grounds Project at the University of Alabama”
Hilary Green, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of History, University of Alabama

“A Brief History of the University of Mississippi Slavery Research Group”
Charles K. Ross, Ph.D., and Jeff Jackson, Ph.D.
Co-Founders, University of Mississippi Slavery Research Group

2:00pm-2:15pm Afternoon Break 1
Bennie G. Thompson Academic and Civil Rights Research Center Foyer

2:15pm-3:15pm Roundtable Session 1

Roundtable 1A: Undergraduate Research Across the Sciences: Examples of HBCU Collaboration
Bennie G. Thompson Academic and Civil Rights Research Center Lecture Hall

Moderator: Chet Bush
Ph.D. Student, University of Mississippi

John Kaup, Ph.D.
Director of Science Education, Furman University

Maria Melville
Undergraduate Student, Benedict College

Andy Teye
Student Member of Furman University’s Task Force on Slavery & Justice

John Wheeler, Ph.D.
Associate Provost for Integrative Science, Furman University

Ahmed Yunus
Undergraduate Student, Benedict College

Roundtable 1B: Students Studying Slavery and Its Legacies at Auburn University
Brown Conference Room: Bennie G. Thompson Academic and Civil Rights Research Center

Moderator: Andrew Marion
Ph.D. Candidate, University of Mississippi

Haden Hodge
Undergraduate Student, Auburn University

Jade Kinney
Ph.D. Candidate, Auburn University

Lauren Mata
Ph.D. Student, Auburn University

Jordan Miles
M.A. Student, Auburn University

Kyle Munroe
Undergraduate Student, Auburn University

Roundtable 1C: Research, Race, Reparations, and Reconciliation: Forming A USS National Action Agenda
Moman Conference Room: Tougaloo College Woodworth Chapel

Moderator: Felicia Davis
Director, Building Green Initiative, Clark Atlanta University

Herbert Brewer, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of History, Morgan State University

Jumoke Ifetayo
Southeast Region Representative, National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America

Henry Lancaster
Consultant, HBCU Green Fund

3:15pm-3:30pm Afternoon Break 2
Bennie G. Thompson Academic and Civil Rights Research Center Foyer

3:30pm-5:00pm Panel Session 2

Panel 2A: Making and Remaking the Meaning of Place and Space
Bennie G. Thompson Academic and Civil Rights Research Center Lecture Hall

Chair: Elijah Gaddis, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of History, Auburn University

“Congo Square: A Place of Remembrance”
Freddi Williams Evans
Independent Scholar

“The Mississippi State Flag: How Slavery, Memory, and the Lost Cause are Enshrined in Twenty-First Century State Symbols and Consequences in Higher Education”
Otis Pickett, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of History and Political Science, Mississippi College

“Teaching by Place and Space by—and with—a Southern University; or, How I (Almost)
Learned to Quit Worrying and Love the Committee Room”
Jay Watson, Ph.D.
Howry Professor of Faulkner Studies, University of Mississippi

Panel 2B: Biographies of Slavery and Racism on Campus and Beyond
Brown Conference Room: Bennie G. Thompson Academic and Civil Rights Research Center

Chair: Michael Marineaux-Bradley
Ph.D. Student, University of Mississippi

“Edward Fenwick—First Catholic Bishop of Cincinnati, Founder of Xavier University, and
Slaveholder”
C. Walker Gollar, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Church History, Xavier University

“The Last Slaves: History and Memory”
Max Grivno, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of History, University of Southern Mississippi

“Writing Reconstruction: Franklin L. Riley, Jr., the University of Mississippi, and
Mississippi’s Reconstruction Historiography”
Anne Twitty, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of History, University of Mississippi

5:00pm-5:15pm Afternoon Break 3
Bennie G. Thompson Academic and Civil Rights Research Center Foyer

5:15pm-6:30pm Student Poster Presentations
Hallway outside Bennie G. Thompson Academic and Civil Rights Research Center Lecture Hall

“From Slaves to Scholars: Students Studying Slavery at Tougaloo College”

GerMya Bradley
Undergraduate Student, Tougaloo College

Samuel Graves
Undergraduate Student, Tougaloo College

Sherbria Green
Undergraduate Student, Tougaloo College

Caleb Houston
Undergraduate Student, Tougaloo College

Kingsley Nwaokorie
Undergraduate Student, Tougaloo College

Isaiah Rush
Undergraduate Student, Tougaloo College

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2018
All events on the campus of Tougaloo College, 500 West County Line Rd., Tougaloo, Mississippi

8:30am-9:30am Roundtable Session 2

Roundtable 2A: The University, the Community, and Enslavement at Auburn University
Bennie G. Thompson Academic and Civil Rights Research Center Lecture Hall

Moderator: Anne Twitty, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of History, University of Mississippi

Robert Bubb, Ph.D.
Lecturer in Human Development & Family Studies, Auburn University

Elijah Gaddis, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of History, Auburn University

Kelly Kennington, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of History, Auburn University

Jade Kinney
Ph.D. Candidate, Auburn University

Guy Emerson Mount, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of History, Auburn University

Madison Ogletree
Undergraduate Student, Auburn University

Roundtable 2B: The Evolution of Slavery: Providing the Lens through Research of the Boddie Plantation and the Institute for the Study of Modern Day Slavery at Tougaloo College
Brown Conference Room: Bennie G. Thompson Academic and Civil Rights Research Center

Moderator: Sharron T. Streeter
Associate Professor of Computer Science, Tougaloo College

Roshunda Harris-Allen, Ed.D.
Assistant Professor of Education and Coordinator of Child Development and Master Programs

Johnnie Mae Maberry
Associate Professor of Art & Co-Director Tougaloo College Institute for the Study of Modern Day Slavery

Roundtable 2C: Building HBCU Contracts and Research Capacity through Partnerships
Moman Conference Room: Tougaloo College Woodworth Chapel

Moderator: John Rosenthall
President, Tougaloo College Research and Development Foundation

Kerry Thomas
Director, Office of Sponsored Programs, Tougaloo College

Derek Starling Sr., PE, PMP, CQE
Principal, SOL Engineering Services, LLC

Daniel Peterson, Ph.D.
Director, Institute for Genomics, Biocomputing, and Biotechnology, Mississippi State University

9:30am-9:45am Morning Break 1
Bennie G. Thompson Academic and Civil Rights Research Center Foyer

9:45am-11:15am Panel Session 3

Panel 3A: Repair through Teaching
Bennie G. Thompson Academic and Civil Rights Research Center Lecture Hall

Chair: Stefan Wheelock, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of English, George Mason University

“Teaching the Teachers: Preparing Educators to Discuss Slavery”
Max Grivno, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of History, University of Southern Mississippi

“Introducing Myself to Myself: Developing a Curriculum for Identity and Social-Emotional Development in African American Adolescents”
Arthur McLin, Ed.D.
Associate Professor of Education, Tougaloo College

“The Burden of Ownership: Reclaiming Pedagogies of Social Justice”
Alphonso F. Saville, IV, Ph.D.
Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow for the Study of American Religion and Slavery at Georgetown University

“Django Praxis: Black Students’ Racial Healing Experiences at a Midwest Jesuit Institution”
Kyra Shahid, Ph.D.
Associate Director, Center for Diversity and Inclusion, Xavier University

Panel 3B: Slaveholders and the Enslaved at the University of Mississippi
Brown Conference Room: Bennie G. Thompson Academic and Civil Rights Research Center

Chair: Hilary Green, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of History, University of Alabama

“The University of Mississippi, the Board of Trustees, Students, and Slavery, 1848-1861”
Eli Baker
Ph.D. Candidate, University of Mississippi

“Too Much His Own Master: Faith and Resistance in the Slave Community at the University of
Mississippi”
Chet Bush
Ph.D. Student, University of Mississippi

“‘The voice of the world is against us’: The Life, Work, and Legacy of William Forbes Stearns, the University of Mississippi’s First Law Professor”
Andrew Marion
Ph.D. Candidate, University of Mississippi

11:15am-11:30am Morning Break 2
Bennie G. Thompson Academic and Civil Rights Research Center Foyer

11:30am-12:30pm Closing Program
Bennie G. Thompson Academic and Civil Rights Research Center Lecture Hall

Closing Comments: John Rosenthall
President, Tougaloo College Research and Development Foundation