Historic Tougaloo College will host the Universities Studying Slavery (USS) Fall 2018 Symposium, beginning October 24-26, 2018. The goal of the consortium of higher education institutions is to work together collectively to address long-term effects of slavery. As legacies of slavery persist within modern society, the USS explores, at the college level, historical and modern issues regarding race and equality.
This year’s symposium consists of various academic institutions convening, consulting and collaborating to determine the best methods for slavery remembrance and associations, as well as implementing systematic repair to benefit the descendants of slavery.
“I don’t know a better way to benefit descendants than to educate them,” said Tougaloo College Research and Development Foundation President John Rosenthall. Rosenthall said one confirmed USS method of slavery repair is the initiative to work with Historically Black Colleges and Universities to ensure their financial stability via research and contracts.
In the spirit of education, the Symposium will begin with an opening reception at the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum, 222 North St., Jackson, Mississippi, on Wednesday, October 24th at 5 p.m. Author of The Color of Compromise: The Truth about the American Church’s Complicity in Racism, Jemar Tisby, will serve as keynote speaker. The next two days, Thursday, October 25th and Friday, October 26th, will be held on the campus of Tougaloo College, 500 West County Line Rd., Tougaloo, Mississippi, and will feature roundtable and panel discussions with community members, as well as faculty, staff and students from colleges and universities around the nation.
“We (Tougaloo College) joined USS to put African American researchers and scholars in the national discussion,” said Rosenthall. He said the discussion will officially begin Thursday morning during the Presidential Plenary, when Tougaloo College President Beverly Hogan, University of Mississippi Chancellor Jeffrey Vitter and Stillman College President Cynthia Warwick will speak from the policy level. The following sessions will resume from an implementation standpoint.
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Additional information, visit Tougaloo.edu.
Full Agenda:
https://slaveryresearchgroup.olemiss.edu/umsrg-co-hosts-uss-fall-2018-meeting-with-tougaloo-college/
List of current USS member institutions:
http://slavery.virginia.edu/universities-studying-slavery/
