The Task of History | MIT and the Legacy of Slavery | Dialogue Series

About
The first class of the "MIT and Slavery" undergraduate research project ran in the fall of 2017, set in motion by MIT President L. Rafael Reif with Dean Melissa Nobles. As the research project continues over coming semesters, MIT is also conducting a community dialogue series that creates opportunities for shared discussions of the findings and our responses to the emerging research.

At this dialogue event, held on May 3, 2018, four MIT historians respond to community questions about the MIT & Slavery research project and share insights about the power of historical knowledge for making a better world.

The historians are Lerna Ekmekçioğlu, Malick Ghachem, Tanalis Padilla, and Craig Steven Wilder. Melissa Nobles, Dean of the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, and a professor of political science, is the event moderator.

Event News Story:
The Task of History: http://bit.ly/2KrDvja

Of the MIT and Slavery project, MIT President L. Rafael Reif, says “I believe the work of this class is important to the present — and to the future. Something I have always loved about the MIT community is that we seek, and we face, facts. What can history teach us now, as we work to invent the future? How can we make sure that the technologies we invent will contribute to making a better world for all?"

Among other discoveries, the early research findings: offer insights about the role of MIT in the post-Civil War era of Reconstruction; reveal examples of racism in the culture of the early campus; and uncover the fact that MIT’s founder, William Barton Rogers, owned six enslaved people in Virginia, before he moved to Massachusetts in 1853.

The findings also suggest new lines of research about the entangled relationship between the slave economies of the Atlantic world, the fields of science and engineering, and U.S. technical institutions. MIT seeks to encourage such new historical research and to contribute to the larger national conversation about the ongoing legacies of slavery — including how history helps us better understand the roles, impact, and responsibilities of science and technology institutions in contemporary society.

The "MIT and Slavery" research project will continue into the foreseeable future and its findings will be shared via a website (http://bit.ly/2BGQdal) that is accessible to the MIT community, scholars, the public, and the media.

LEARN MORE

Letter from MIT President L. Rafael Reif: http://bit.ly/2BU32kF
Video: MIT and the Legacy of Slavery: https://youtu.be/_iApKIZONqM
MIT and Slavery website: http://bit.ly/2BGQdal
MIT News story by Peter Dizikes: http://bit.ly/2Bl0xH9
News story by SHASS Communications: http://bit.ly/2CEnF09
3Q with Nobles and Wilder on the MLS Community Dialogues: http://bit.ly/2w9UcgX
Ebony and Ivy, by Craig Steven Wilder: http://nyti.ms/2BnUmCb MIT News story: about Ebony and Ivy: http://bit.ly/2bWboHA

Video by MIT Video Productions

Видео The Task of History | MIT and the Legacy of Slavery | Dialogue Series канала MIT SHASS