Day One: Memories of a Massacre: Memphis in 1866 Symposium

Day One: Memories of a Massacre: Memphis in 1866 Symposium May 24, 2016

memphis massacre

On May 20-21, 2016, the University of Memphis hosted “Memories of a Massacre: Memphis in 1866, a Symposium Exploring Slavery, Emancipation, and Reconstruction.”  The culmination of a semester-long series of lectures, workshops, discussions, and book talks, this symposium featured historians and scholars from across the country, including Robert K. Sutton, retired Chief Historian of the National Park Service.  Together, their presentations and the ensuing discussions pried open what has for 150-years been the carefully concealed history of Reconstruction, its legacies, and the significant role that Memphis played in both. We are thankful for all who joined us live or followed us on social media as we reflected collectively on a wave of terror that rocked a city and changed a nation.

If you did not get a chance to attend or missed some of the panels on Friday, you can hear them below. Please feel free to share this with others.

FRIDAY, MAY 20

Welcome: Welcome by Karen Weddle-West, Provost, University of Memphis

Panel One: Slavery and Slave Life in the Mississippi Valley (Listen Here)

Joshua D. Rothman, University of Alabama,The Cotton Economy and the Rebirth of American Slavery” Twitter Handle@rothmanistan

J. Calvin Schermerhorn, Arizona State,  Cash for Slaves’: The African American Trail of Tears” Twitter Handle@CalScherm

Max Grivno, University of Southern Mississippi, “Death on the River: Slavery in the Yazoo Mississippi Delta”

Moderator: Madeleine C. Taylor, Executive Director, NAACP Memphis

Panel Two: Civil War and Emancipation in the Mississippi Valley (Listen Here)

Joseph P. Reidy, Howard University, “Black Soldiers and Sailors: Rebuilding Families and the Nation amidst the Chaos of Civil War in the Mississippi Valley” (Paper presented by Co-Director: Beverly Bond)

Jim Downs, Connecticut College, “Dying to be Free: The Deadly Consequences of Emancipation” Twitter Handle: @jimdowns1

John C. Rodrigue, Stonehill College, “From Emancipation to Abolition in Civil-War Tennessee”

Moderator: Femi I. Ajanaku, Director, Center for African & African American Studies,LeMoyne-Owen College Twitter Handle: @izegbe

Panel Three: Giving Meaning to Freedom (Listen Here)

Susan Eva O’Donovan, University of Memphis, “The Problem of Freedom in the Era of Emancipation” Twitter Handle: @odonovanse1

Kate Masur, Northwestern University, “Urban Battlegrounds: Reconstruction in Southern Cities” Twitter Handle: @katemasur

Elizabeth L. Jemison, Clemson University, “Christianity, Race, and Politics after Emancipation.” Twitter Handle: @eljemison

Moderator: Ladrica Menson-Furr, Director of African & African American Studies, University of Memphis

Keynote Address (Listen Here)

Opening remarks by Ronald A. Walter, President and General Manager, WREG-TV, Memphis

Moderator: Aram Goudsouzian, Chair, Department of History, University of Memphis

Robert K. Sutton, Chief Historian of the National Park Service, “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of American History: Remembering Reconstruction”

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