Historians, teachers, and history buffs of all kinds will have an
opportunity to attend dozens of panel discussions and hear from a
renowned historian and a well-known author during Grand Valley State
University's 28th Annual Great Lakes History Conference, held Friday and
Saturday, November 7 and 8, in Grand Rapids.
This year's conference theme, 'From Slavery to Freedom in the Atlantic
World,' coincides with a grim historical marker acknowledged this year:
the 500th anniversary of the introduction of African slaves in the
Americas, which has been traced to 1503.
Delivering the keynote address on Saturday, November 8, on the topic
'American Slavery in History and Memory' will be Ira Berlin, pre-eminent
historian and expert on the subject of slavery. A public lecture will
also be delivered on Friday, November 7, by noted African-American
novelist Charles Johnson.
The Great Lakes History Conference is sponsored by Grand Valley's
History Department. All events are open to the public. Admission is $20
for the general public, and free for GVSU students and faculty. Meals
are included in the fee. To register, call Shelby Hughes at (616)
331-3298. A conference schedule and registration form can be found at
www.gvsu.edu/history.
Featured History Conference events include:
Panel discussions: 1:30-4:30 p.m. on November 7 and 8:30
a.m.-5 p.m. on November 8 at the Eberhard Center, 301 W. Fulton St. in
Grand Rapids. Featured are 28 panels on historical topics presented by
more than 70 historians from throughout the U.S. and Africa.
Topics include The Underground Railroad; Fugitive Slaves and Free
Blacks in Canada; Legacies of Slavery in Africa; and many other
subjects related to the conference theme. Of local interest are panels
on the Syrian-Lebanese Community of Grand Rapids, 1890-1940; The Felt
Restoration Project, which focuses on the grassroots effort to restore
a 19th-century Saugatuck mansion; Revisiting Racial Segregation in the
Mid-1960s Grand Rapids Public Schools; and Idlewild: The History of a
Black Resort Community in Michigan.
Noted author Charles Johnson: November 7, 8 p.m., Loosemore
Auditorium, DeVos Center, 401 W. Fulton St. —; Distinguished novelist,
critic, and screenwriter Charles Johnson's lecture is titled 'On the
Intersection of History, Philosophy, and Fiction in 'Middle Passage'
and 'Dreamer'.' Considered one of the top African-American fiction
writers in America, Johnson is noted for his use of historical
materials in his creative work. 'Middle Passage' (1990), a vivid
re-creation of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, received the National
Book Award. The life of Martin Luther King, Jr., served as the basis
for 'Dreamer: A Novel' (1998). Johnson was recently inducted into the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is currently Pollock
Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Washington, Seattle.
The Charles Johnson lecture is open to the public free of charge.
A public reception will follow.
Keynote address, 'American Slavery in History and Memory,' by Ira
Berlin: November 8, 12-1:30 p.m., Eberhard Center —; Widely
considered a pre-eminent authority on slavery in America, Ira Berlin's
books include 'Generations of Captivity: A History of African-American
Slaves' (2003) and 'Many Thousands Gone: The First Two Centuries of
Slavery in Mainland North America' (1999), which received the
prestigious Bancroft Prize and other awards. Berlin is Distinguished
University Professor at the University of Maryland and founder of the
Freedmen and Southern Society Project.
