Michigan State University Research Project on the Historical Slave Trade

On Thursday, May 9, at 6 p.m., Walter Hawthorne, Ph.D., will present “Enslaved: Peoples of the Historical Slave Trade.” This lecture will explore a major online database project that Dr. Hawthorne has undertaken in conjunction with Matrix, the digital humanities center at Michigan State University. The website, Enslaved.org, is a repository of richly detailed stories of the lives of enslaved people, which assists researchers in linking these stories and visualizing larger historical narratives. The project, funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities, aims to connect individual stories and provide a deeper understanding of U.S. history, as well as offer educational materials for classrooms.

Walter Hawthorne is a professor of African, Atlantic, and Digital History at Michigan State University. He is also the director of Enslaved.org and an editor of the Journal of Slavery and Data Preservation. Dr. Hawthorne received his Ph.D. in African History from Stanford University. His research focuses on the history of the Atlantic Slave Trade, and he has written on African agricultural practices, religious beliefs, and family structures in the Old and New Worlds. His most recent books include Planting Rice and Harvesting Slaves: Transformation along the Guinea-Bissau Coast, 1400-1900 and From Africa to Brazil: Culture, Identity, and an Atlantic Slave Trade, 1600-1830.

The lecture will be held at the A.W. Jones Heritage Center at 6 p.m. The lecture is free and open to the public.  To register, please see this link:  TICKETS.