The painful effects of racial bias and the long legacy of slavery are now on full display in our country. While many people live their lives shielded from such brutal realities, others must live them each day; carefully and often wary that any encounter could be fatal.
This different reality is a topic that causes discomfort, pain, and fear. Honest communication about race and the legacy of slavery in America is necessary to initiate change and foster a more equitable society. Conversation alone will not address or repair these issues. What is essential is dialogue towards understanding and empathy.
Through the Jupiter Hammon Project, Preservation Long Island seeks to encourage people to enter into dialogue with those around them, to examine their own biases, and work towards true equality in words and in practice. To this end, Preservation Long Island has organized three public roundtables to convene virtually in the late summer and fall of 2020.
Virtual Public Roundtable Dates:
August 15, 2020, September 19, 2020, and October 24, 2020
JOIN THE CONVERSATION: The roundtables, co-hosted with local partner organizations, will bring together renowned scholars with local residents, descendant communities, and other stakeholders to explore the legacy of slavery on Long Island and the life of Jupiter Hammon, the first published African American writer who was enslaved at the 18th-century Joseph Lloyd Manor.
For individual roundtable details and registration information, visit the Jupiter Hammon Project main page.
LEARN MORE: Preservation Long Island staff has curated a comprehensive Jupiter Hammon Resources page that provides original historic documents, including digital access to the author’s original handwritten letters, essays, and poems as well as a selection of interactive databases, and academic resources.
WATCH: Video clips exploring the history surrounding Jupiter Hammon’s legacy, featuring Preservation Long Island staff moderated interviews with historians, researchers, and other experts, are available on Preservation Long Island’s dedicated Vimeo channel. New episodes will be updated regularly leading up to the Roundtable events.
Preserve Long Island has posted the first two blog posts of the series connected to the Jupiter Hammon Project – Jupiter Hammon and New York’s Long Struggle for Freedom and Writing Revolution: Jupiter Hammon’s Address to Phillis Wheatley. New blog posts are expected to be added to the website throughout this multi-year initiative.
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