Racial Histories of Higher Education in New England: A Symposium Co-Hosted by The New England Quarterly

Please join us for a symposium on the racial histories of higher education in New England, co-sponsored by The New England Quarterly and the Massachusetts Historical Society and supported by Mass Humanities. As battles have raged over the meaning and fate of Confederate monuments across the south, colleges and universities in New England, generally regarded as liberal bastions, have also been engaged in a deep and consequential reckoning with aspects of their history and ongoing practices that rest on the legacies of slave trade and settler colonialism. This event will highlight the work of a diverse range of historians, as well as university archivists and museum professionals, discussing a range of issues from the Colonial period to the present that shape the industry, experience, and cultures of higher education. They will delve into endowments, admissions, human remains, land use, art and artifacts, reparations, repatriation — and also a long tradition of struggle on the part of Black and Native students, scholars, and activists who have also claimed these institutions as their own. 

The evening will conclude with a keynote address by Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David Blight on his work as the lead researcher in Yale University’s newly released self-study of its entanglements with slavery.

The conference will take place in person at the Massachusetts Historical Society on 27 September 2024. Learn more about the conference here. 

Register to attend the conference here. Registration includes the full day of panels, receptions, lunch, and the keynote.

Registration is free for graduate students, teachers, and adjunct faculty. Those interested should email ccloutier@masshist.org to register.

Questions about registration? Email Assistant Director of Research Cassandra Cloutier ccloutier@masshist.org.