New College Florida Black History:BLACK ABOLITIONISTS AND THE POLITICS OF RACE IN THE ANTEBELLUM US (Live)

It is today widely understood that ‘race’ is a product of society and not a fact of nature. But where did this idea come from? In this campus conversation, we will explore the ideas of the Black abolitionists David Walker (1796-1830) and Hosea Easton (1798-1837). More than a century before the emergence of the notion of a ‘social construction,’ these authors developed arguments fiercely rejecting naturalistic understandings of race. They instead suggested that the answer to the ‘puzzle’ of racial difference lay in politics, not nature.

Campus Conversations engage a small group of people in discussions on a variety of topics. Support for this event was provided by a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Dr. Gorup Bio: With a Ph.D. in Government and a BA in Philosophy, Dr. Gorup teaches courses on U. S. Constitutional Law and Freedom and Slavery in U. S. Political Thought. His current research project examines how and why the language of popular sovereignty has been mobilized to both entrench and contest racial hierarchy across the history of American political thought. Prior to joining the New College faculty, he taught in the Critical Writing Program at the University of Pennsylvania.

Register for this program HERE.