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October 31, 2019

ACLU

This year marks 400 years since enslaved, kidnapped people were purchased by the forefathers and - mothers of America. Are the events that began 400 years ago connected to today? William Faulkner wrote, “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” 

Richmond Free Press

Nearly 1,000 people from 30 different countries are expected in Williamsburg next week for the 10th Biennial Conference of the Association for the Study of the Worldwide Diaspora, or ASWAD.

The conference, from Nov. 5 through 9, is being hosted in remembrance of the first enslaved Africans who landed at Point Comfort in Hampton 400 years ago in 1619.

October 30, 2019

Fresh Water Cleveland

Racism. A word evoking a wide range of both defensive and offensive emotions. It deeply divides our country, our states and even our city. Cleveland. A place where slaves fleeing bondage came for a taste of freedom. They called it “Station Hope.”

Yet, when slavery ended, racism prevailed. What is its impact today? This year marks 400 years since the first Africans arrived on these shores involuntarily. 

WBUR

For many black Americans, it's like an abusive relationship. We love our country, but it does not always love us back. The best way I can grapple with this complicated dynamic is by looking back at my own family.

I have a picture of my grandmother, Ethel Phillips, posing with the great-granddaughter of her employer. The child is looking up at my grandmother as she smiles into the camera. They are both holding small American flags. My grandmother is wearing a light blue dress, which was actually a uniform.

October 29, 2019

The Harvard Gazette

Slavery in America traces its beginnings to August of 1619, when starving pirates sold about 20 kidnapped Africans to English colonists in Jamestown, Va., in exchange for food. On Monday afternoon an expert panel argued that centuries later, the legacy of slavery still shadows the American health-care system.

Virginia Mercury

The commission charged with making recommendations to create a more accurate and complete representation of black history in state education guidelines plans to finish its work by the time the state makes changes to the Standards of Learning again. 

October 27, 2019

The Famuan

A collaboration between the Florida A&M University Black Archives Exhibition Research Center and Museum and the Florida State University Civil Rights Institute produced the “Remembrance of Slavery in America and Contributions of African Americans 100 Years Prior to 1619” program.

October 26, 2019

KLTV

Saturday, East Texans acknowledged their past in downtown Tyler.

“Today commemorates 400 years of slavery for African Americans,” said Gloria Washington, the executive director of the Texas African American Museum (TAAM). TAAM recognized the occasion with a parade and event hosting vendors from all over. “That’s the importance of today,” said Washington. “To bring back the past into the future so we won’t go back to the past.” Those in attendance said they learned about others, but also about themselves.

October 25, 2019

Berkeley News

In her new book, They Were Her Property: White Women as Slave Owners in the American South, Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers, UC Berkeley associate professor of history, expands our understanding of American slavery and the 19th century slave market with an investigation into the role of white women in the slave economy. She found they were active participants, profited from it and were as brutal as men in their management techniques.

October 23, 2019

The Natchez Democrat

Two events this weekend will celebrate the contributions of African Americans locally and nationally over 400 years between 1619 and 2019.

October 21, 2019

Pratt

In August 1619, a ship carrying around 20 enslaved Africans arrived at the English colony of Virginia, launching the slave trade in the future United States. This year marks the 400th anniversary of slavery in this country.

The Daytona Beach News-Journal

A Bethune-Cookman symposium, “Before 1619,” is a look back at 400 years since the arrival of the first African slaves in Virginia, and before, as the first Africans had arrived in Florida as early as 1528.

Estevanico — the first African to explore America — landed in La Florida in 1528.

News8

Southern Connecticut University is kicking off a week of events commemorating the first enslaved Africans to be brought to the shores of North America 400 years ago.

1619 Southern Remembers The 400th will feature films, speakers and lectures. All of the events are free and open to the public.

University of New Mexico News

The University of New Mexico School of Law celebrates the closing reception featuring Emeritus Professor of Law Sherri Burr’s exhibition of '400 Years of Freedom, Restrictions, and Survival,' on Wednesday, Oct. 23 from 5 to 7 p.m. at the African American Performing Arts Center Foundation. The exhibit commemorates the first arrival of Africans in August 1619 and challenging traditional notions of how slavery developed in this country.

The LaGrange Daily News

Over the weekend, the LaGrange community honored the 400-year anniversary of the first slave ship arriving to America in 1619.

The project was coordinated by Ark Refuge Ministries in LaGrange. The 400 Year Journey, the first annual celebration of the journey from 1619 to 2019, was established to commemorate the struggles, influence and contributions made by African Americans during the past 400 years. More than a dozen workshops were held throughout the weekend that promoted relationships amongst a diverse group of people.

October 20, 2019

Crain's Cleveland Business

Four hundred years after the first ship holding enslaved Africans reached port at Jamestown, Va., two Cleveland organizations are hosting a summit to examine the connection between this legacy and today's racial disparities.

Since August of 1619, millions were forced into slavery, an institution that ultimately helped build the economic foundation of the United States.

October 18, 2019

The Daily Targum

The Rutgers School of Public Health hosted a half-day conference titled “Reducing Youth Involvement with the Criminal Justice System” last Thursday, which addressed the youth-to-prison pipeline among students in Newark and throughout the state.

The Daily Pennsylvanian

Notable scholars of African American history gathered in Houston Hall Thursday to kick off the 2019 CallalooConference, analyzing the historical impact of the first enslaved people's arrival to America 400 years ago. 

City Limits

As we reflect on the week’s Indigenous Peoples gatherings, we should take a moment to consider what happened in the 400 years after enslaved Africans were brought to England’s first permanent colony in Jamestown, Va., in 1619, and how these experiences relate to human rights.

October 17, 2019

USA Today

Sites from Virginia to Kansas are now grappling with how to portray the harsh truths of the past, from former presidents' enslavement of other humans, to the violent efforts to spread slavery in "free" states, to the historic presence of hundreds of enslaved people at well-loved tourist attractions. 

But those attempts to change how Americans view history have met plenty of pushback: Some people, it seems, prefer a sanitized retelling of America's past.