September 28, 2019

Swan Auditorium

 

Join the Department of Textiles, Fashion Merchandising and Design at the College of Business, the Rhode Island Black Heritage Society, and the Costume Society of America Northeastern Region for a free symposium to explore the complex story of the social and economic relationships between the North and South in antebellum America.

Invited speakers will address the interconnectedness of the northern textile industry with the southern cotton economy that depended on slavery. The goal for this day-long program is to increase our understanding of the complicated history of the industrial North and the agricultural South through family connections and mercantile activity during America’s antebellum period.

Attendees can sign-up for a box lunch, provided by URI Catering, for $15.00. Please contact Beth Fay at 401-874-4574 or bfay@uri.edu before Sept. 20 with your choice of roast beef, chicken or vegetarian wrap and payment information.

Schedule

Time	Session
9:30-10:00am	Linda Welters, Professor, University of Rhode Island “Welcome and Introduction to the Exhibition: One American Family: A Tale of North and South”
10:00-10:45am	Seth Rockman, Associate Professor, Brown University “Plantation Labor Outsourced: Situating New England Textiles in the National Economy of Slavery”
10:45-11:00am	Break
11:00-11:45am	Katie Knowles, Assistant Professor, Curator of Avenir Museum, Colorado State University “Patches of Resistance on the Badges of Enslavement”
11:45am-12:15pm	Reading by Rachel May from her book, An American Quilt: Unfolding a Story of Family and Slavery.
12:15-1:30pm	Lunch (box lunch or on your own) with time to tour exhibit
1:30-2:15pm	Marcus Nevius, Assistant Professor, University of Rhode Island “The Price of Freedom in American Slavery, 1800 to the 1830s.”
2:15-3:00pm	Keith Stokes, VP, 1696 Heritage Group, Newport, Rhode Island “Legacies of Slavery and Freedom: A Family Story Through the Atlantic World.”
3:00-3:45pm	Lynne Bassett, Independent Scholar, Palmer, Massachusetts “Understanding Free Blacks’ Clothing – A Photo Study”
*Schedule subject to change