Join the U.S. Capitol Historical Society for our annual spring symposium:
Congress and Slavery in the District of Columbia
Friday, April 27, 2007 8:30 am to 5:00 pm
Room 902, Hart Senate Office Building. 2nd Street NE between Constitution Avenue and C Street. Before 10 am, use the entrances on 2nd Street or Constitution Avenue. The C Street entrance is open to the public after 10 am. To reach the ninth floor, use the north bank of elevators.
Fourth in the series: The National Capital in a Nation Divided: Congress and the District of Columbia Confront Sectionalism and Slavery
Keynote speaker James B. Stewart (James Wallace Professor of History, Macalester College) will open the conference with “Christian Statesmanship, Codes of Honor and Congressional Violence: The Travails and Triumphs of Joshua Giddings.” Joshua R. Giddings, a member of Congress, championed the rights of the enslaved to seize their own freedom, forcefully if necessary. This paper explains why Giddings advocated such radical doctrines, what happened to him in the House of Representatives when he stated his views , and why the continuing controversies he caused had much to do with the coming of the Civil War.
Other speakers include Felicia Bell (Director of Education, USCHS), Mary Beth Corrigan (Independent Scholar), A. Glenn Crothers (University of Louisville and Filson Historical Society), Stanley Harrold (Department of Social Sciences, South Carolina State University), Harold Holzer (Senior Vice-President for External Affairs, The Metropolitan Museum of Art; co-chair, Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission), Mitch Kachun (History Department, Western Michigan University), Rohulamin Quander (Administrative Law Judge, District of Columbia), Mary Kay Ricks (Author), and John Michael Vlach (American Studies Department, The George Washington University). The conference is directed by Paul Finkelman (President William McKinley Distinguished Professor of Law and Public Policy, Albany Law School) and Donald Kennon (Vice President, History and Education, USCHS).
SCHEDULE:
8:30: Opening Remarks / Don Kennon, VP, USCHS / Paul Finkelman, Symposium Program Director
8:45: Keynote Presentation / James B. Stewart, “Christian Statesmanship, Codes of Honor and Congressional Violence: The Travails and Triumphs of Joshua Giddings”
9:45 - 10:00: Break
10:00 - 10:45: A. Glenn Crothers, “The 1846 Retrocession of Alexandria: Protecting Slavery and the Slave Trade in the District of Columbia”
10:45 - 11:30: Stanley Harrold, “Gamaliel Bailey, Antislavery Journalist and Lobbyist”
11:30 - 11:45: Q & A for morning speakers
12:00 - 1:00: Lunch / Felicia Bell, “‘The negroes alone work:’ An Overview of the History of the Enslaved and Free Black Labor Used to Construct the U.S. Capitol, 1790-1800”
1:00 - 2:45: Session on Slavery in the District of Columbia (Moderated by Judge Rohulamin Quander)
John Michael Vlach, "From Slavery to Tenancy: African-American Housing Options across the Nineteenth Century”
Mary Beth Corrigan, “‘Whether They Be Ours or No, They May Be Heirs of the Kingdom:’ The Pursuit of Family Ties among Enslaved People in the District of Columbia”
Mary Kay Ricks, “The Underground Railroad Escape on the Schooner Pearl: A Convergence of Opportunity, Motivation and Political Action in the Nation's Capital”
2:45 - 3:00: Break
3:00 - 3:45: Mitch Kachun—“Celebrating Emancipation and Contesting Freedom in Washington, D.C.”
3:45 - 4:45: Harold Holzer—“Picturing Freedom: The Emancipation Proclamation in Art, Iconography, and Memory”
4:45 - 5:00: Q&A for Kachun and Holzer
FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.
Pre-registration recommended.
Box lunches will be provided for those who RSVP by Friday, April 20. Attendees are welcome to attend the lunch session without a lunch RSVP, or to bring their own lunch.
To pre-register and/or to RSVP for lunch, email the following information to uschs@uschs.org, or call and (202) 543-8919 x. 38 and leave the information in a message. You may also fax your registration to (202) 544-8244.
Names of those attending (note if they would like to RSVP for lunch): Your address: Daytime phone number: Email address:
Please consider making a donation in support of this program. You can send your registration with a check made out to USCHS to 200 Maryland Avenue NE, Washington, DC 20002, or we can charge your credit card. Please note whether the card is a Mastercard, Visa, or American Express, and provide the number and expiration date.
