Expert on slave ships to speak at Grand Valley

ALLENDALE, Mich. -- An award-winning historian who has spent 30 years researching maritime archives is the next Grand Valley State University speaker during Remembering the Crossings, a series of events to promote awareness of 2007 as the bicentennial of the abolition of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade.

Marcus Rediker, professor of history at the University of Pittsburgh, speaks on “The Floating Dungeon: A History of the Slave Ship,” on Thursday, April 19, at 7 p.m. in the GVSU Loosemore Auditorium, DeVos Center, 401 W. Fulton, Grand Rapids.

Rediker will draw from his fifth book, forthcoming October 2007, The Slave Ship, an unprecedented history of these vessels and the human drama acted out for more than three centuries as millions of people were transported from the coasts of Africa across the Atlantic to the New World.

With family roots in the mines and factories of the South, Rediker has devoted much of his life to a variety of social justice and peace movements, held numerous fellowships and lectured around the world. To learn more about Rediker visit www.marcusrediker.com.

This event is free and open to the public. For more information call Steeve Buckridge at (616) 331-8550, or visit www.gvsu.edu/abolition .