Symposium 10/4/09

The most amazing thing to express today refers to the ending that is just a beginning. As the symposium has come to an end, as the personal tour and guided tour has come to an end, as the participants return to their designated homes and places of employment, one can never say this represents the end, but the beginning of ongoing research.

Having blogged daily regarding the symposium, having extended the learning through internet searches, and having made friendships that will be lasting, this weekend has proved to go beyond one's expectations. This event has now stirred in me the continued desire to gain more information regarding historical people, places, and things. The reality of exploring documented sources and beginning to identify the "un-documented and under-documented" highlights our responsibility to give a voice to the many enslaved.

I express my sincere gratitude to the symposium director and the presenters for an excellent event that has changed my life forever.

~Jeryl

Rita Wagstaff - Tour of the Great House

Rita Wagstaff a member of the first Stratford Hall Seminar on Slavery closed the symposium with a tour of the Great House.

Shawn Utsey, “Shockhoe Bottom, Lumpkin’s Jail, and the Negro Burial Ground.”

Shawn Utsey, “Shockhoe Bottom, Lumpkin’s Jail, and the Negro Burial Ground.”

Dr. Utsey spoke about the experience with the burial ground and what can be learned from the area. One view says let’s memorialize – others want to excavate. A cultural and class issue seems to be at the root of this divide. Who will be heard?

He showed a six minute piece of his documentary “Meet Me At the Bottom” Which will premier in October 2009 in Richmond. A spirited give and take ensued after the viewing ensued.

See Also:

• Handbook of African American Psychology
• An interview with Dr. Shawn Utsey, psychology professor and editor of The Journal of Black Psychology. Interviewed by Ms. LeOndra Clark.
• Hidden Things Brought to Light: Finding Lumpkin's Jail and Locating the Burial Ground for Negroes

• The DEFENDERS for Freedom, Justice & Equality

Harriet and Dangerfield Newby in Slavery and Freedom

Harriet and Dangerfield Newby in Slavery and Freedom

Phil Schwarz shared his research on Dangerfied Newby and his families.

PowerPoint at http://www.slideshare.net/stratalum/newby-harpers-ferry-schwarz-101709-final

See also:
Letters from Harriet Newby

Gangerfield & Harriet - a student reenactment

John Brown

Harper's Ferry

Migrants Against Slavery

Camille Wells “The Architecture of Slavery

Camille Wells lectured on “The Architecture of Slavery.” The slide show presentation on architecture focused on the space of these structures where slaves lived and worked. Slides of different structures were presented and discussed in terms of work done by these enslaved. Architectural would not be present without the work and skills of African Americans.

Civl Rights movement prompted another set of questions that lead to scholarship on the richness of culture and skills of African Americans. The African American craftsmen have authorship of the architecture.

See Also

• Camille’s 2002 presentation
• Group of negroes imported to be sold for Slaves in 1793, from Narrative of a Five Years Expedition against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam, by J.G. Stedman, 1796
• Bladensfield - - Chimneys created by enslaved artisan
• Guns Germs & Steel
• Shotgun houses