Nathaniel R. Jones Freedom Speaker Series Presents Award-Winning Historian David Blight

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Nathaniel R. Jones Freedom Speaker Series presents Award-Winning Historian David Blight

Date and Time

Friday, March 7, 2025 | 6:00 pm - 8:30 pm

Location

Harriet Tubman Theater

Event Type

Lecture

Cost

Non-Members $10; Members free

Join the Freedom Center for an evening with award-winning historian David Blight.

Drawing excerpts from his latest book, Yale and Slavery: A History, Blight examines the history, legacies and remembrances of slavery in America, including how pillars of American higher education, even in New England, emerged over time intertwined with the national and international history of racial slavery. Along the way, Blight also addresses the current crisis of trust in universities as ownership and censorship of history threaten the integrity of fact and the inclusion of diverse voices.

6:00 p.m. Reception with light bites and refreshments
7:00 p.m. Discussion with David Blight, followed by Q&A

Presented as part of the Nathaniel R. Jones Freedom Speaker Series, generously supported by Francie and John Pepper.

If you need accommodations or have any questions about our accessibility resources, please contact us in advance at accessible@nurfc.org.

About David Blight

David W. Blight, one of the most acclaimed scholars on racial slavery in America, is a teacher, scholar and public historian. At Yale University, he is Sterling Professor of History and chair of the Yale and Slavery Working Group. As part of his Working Group, he authored the book Yale and Slavery: A History. Blight has authored several books on the history of slavery in America, including Beyond Freedom: Disrupting the History of Emancipation (2017), American Oracle: The Civil War in the Civil Rights Era (2013), A Slave No More: Two Men Who Escaped to Freedom Including Their Own Narratives of Emancipation (2007), Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory (2001) and Frederick Douglass’ Civil War: Keeping Faith in Jubilee (1989). His 2018 book Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom garnered nine book awards, including the Pulitzer Prize, the Francis Parman Prize, the Bancroft Prize and the Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize. Blight is also the director of the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition. In this capacity he organizes conferences, working groups, lectures, the administering of the annual Frederick Douglass Book Prize and many public outreach programs regarding the history of slavery and its abolition.

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