Georgetown Preserves Memory, Charts Path For Lasting Change At Emancipation Day Conference On Legacies Of Enslavement

Press release from Georgetown University:

May 5, 2021

Georgetown hosted this spring’s Universities Studying Slavery (USS) Conference, which chronicled ongoing work among institutions of higher education focused on historical and contemporary manifestations of enslavement.

Universities Studying Slavery is a consortium of 80 colleges and universities who gather twice a year to explore best practices and guiding principles about truth-telling projects addressing enslavement and racism in institutional histories.

In the midst of an urgent global health crisis and persistent issues of social and racial injustice, this year’s conference examined recent efforts to trace historical and contemporary legacies of enslavement and implement lasting change.

“We live, every day, with the legacies of enslavement — from health disparities, police violence and mass incarceration, to monuments in our physical landscape and the materials in our archives,” said Georgetown President John J. DeGioia. “We recognize that there is more for us to do together on the journey towards reconciliation.”

This press release was produced by Georgetown University.The views expressed here are the author’s own.