Atlanta, GA — Emory University will host a symposium on slavery and dispossession Sept. 29 to Oct. 1 to highlight ongoing research and efforts around the topic, explore the university’s own legacy and history with slavery, and encourage dialogue and engage with the community and beyond, a press release said.

The symposium, “In the Wake of Slavery and Dispossession,” will feature a variety of panel discussions, performances and exhibitions held on the Atlanta and Oxford campuses.

The three-day program will open with the university’s land acknowledgement and a panel about Emory’s history of student activism, from admission of the first African American students in 1964 to the 2015 list of demands by Black students issued to the administration.

On day two, there will be a keynote from Craig Steven Wilder, who wrote “Ebony and Ivy: Race, Slavery, and the Troubled History of America’s Universities.” A plenary session on Indian removal laws and policies will be led by Malinda Maynor Lowery, who was recently named Cahoon Family Professor in American History in Emory College. Following the plenary session will be a virtual presentation from Mark Auslander, author of “the Accidental Slaveowner,” on Emory’s participation in slavery and the Civil War.

In addition, there will be several student-led events including poetry readings, an academic presentation exploring the work of James Baldwin, a panel of Native American students discussing overcoming trauma, and a panel led by Oxford Men of Color and the Black Student Alliance on the history and present of Oxford College.

The symposium will conclude with a guided racial healing circle, which Emory College senior Ronald Poole believes is mission critical.

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