Hundreds of scholars, students and community members from across the country gathered at Rice University in mid-October for the fall research conference of the Universities Studying Slavery Consortium.
It was the first time since the consortium’s founding in 2016 that its conference was held in Texas. This year’s theme was “Second Foundings: Universities, Slavery, and Struggles for Justice in Texas and Beyond.”
According to Kirt von Daacke, University of Virginia history professor who coordinates the consortium, USSC includes more than 100 educational institutions in six countries that share best practices and guiding principles for truth-telling projects about human bondage and the enduring legacies of racism.
“We’re honoring the people who were enslaved and quite literally built this country, while their stories are being scrubbed from the internet and out of museums,” said Pearl Eni, a researcher at the University of Maryland. “To be in a community of people who are saying their names and putting their names on memorials — I can feel in my heart how deeply important it is.”
Conference organizers said the gathering explored questions such as how the legacies of slavery and segregation have shaped schools founded after the abolition of slavery, how those histories are reflected on campuses today, and what actions can be taken to facilitate repair and reconciliation.
Right now, schools are facing some significant challenges. Getting together and talking about our work is restorative and empowering for a lot of people.
— ERIC LAFOREST
“Right now, schools are facing some significant challenges,” said Eric LaForest, chair of the history, philosophy and religious studies department at Loomis Chaffee School in Windsor, Connecticut. “Getting together and talking about our work is restorative and empowering for a lot of people.”
The program featured panels, workshops, documentary screenings, student poster sessions and a half-day excursion to Texas Southern University.
I received profound inspiration from Simmons’ lecture. She called us to maintain the university as a beacon of truth, no matter what challenges we face.
— MOLLY MORGAN
“I suggested that we include a day at TSU because there would be attendees from other parts of the country who might not know there’s an HBCU in Houston,” said Karen Kossie-Chernyshev ’85, ’96, ’98, professor of history at TSU and co-organizer of the conference. “As a Rice graduate who’s worked at TSU for 31 years, I know the gems we have here, including the museum and the John Biggers murals.”
Keynote speakers included Ruth J. Simmons, president emerita of Brown University and President’s Distinguished Fellow at Rice, and Crystal R. Sanders, associate professor at Emory University.
“I received profound inspiration from Simmons’ lecture,” said Molly Morgan, assistant teaching professor of anthropology at Rice. “She called us to maintain the university as a beacon of truth, no matter what challenges we face.”
Caleb McDaniel, the Mary Gibbs Jones Professor of Humanities at Rice and co-organizer of this year’s conference, said 335 attendees came to the event, representing 21 states and numerous institutions, local communities and organizations.
“We were overwhelmed by the response and interest in the conference,” McDaniel said. “I hope these collaborations will lay the groundwork for future partnerships through the USS Consortium and beyond.”
ROSIE NGUYEN
Director of Communications and Projects in Free Expression
Office of Access and Institutional Excellence