UMD News

Director of Public Relations:
Susan Beasy Latto, slatto@d.umn.edu
315 Darland Administration Bldg.
1049 University Drive
Duluth, MN 55812
(218) 726-8830 Cell: (218) 348-5688
Fax: (218) 726-7413

September 13, 2002

Contact:
Susan Beasy Latto, Director of Public Relations 218 726-8830
Drew Digby, Instructor, Department of History 218 726-8657

A noted scholar of African American history will present a public lecture on the difficulties Americans have talking about slavery next Thursday. James Oliver Horton, the Benjamin Banneker Professor of History at George Washington University, will speak on "Presenting Slavery: Dealing with America's Most Un-American History," Thursday Sept. 19 at 7:30 p.m. in Campus Center 120 at UMD.

Professor Horton has published many books and articles on U.S. social and African American history, and has served as historical advisor to museums, the National Park Service, film and television productions, the White House, and the Disney Corporation. His latest book is Hard Road to Freedom: The Story of African Americans.

Horton, who is also the Director of the African American Communities Project of the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution, will talk about his experiences doing work for the last few years with the National Park Service, Monticello, the Library of Congress and Colonial Williamsburg. At a variety of historical sites, Horton has worked with scholars and public historians trying to find ways to show the importance of slavery.

Each organization or museum has needed to confront the fact that while slavery has been important to its history, they had trouble presenting this to the public.

In addition to the evening lecture, Professor Horton will participate in a seminar on the process of uncovering and saving African American History Thursday, September 19, 3:30-5 p.m. in room 245 of A.B. Anderson Hall. His presentation, "The Life and Times of Edward Ambush: Methods in Community Research," will be followed by a roundtable discussion about research on African American history in the Duluth area. The public is welcome.

The lecture is presented by the UMD Department of History with substantial support from the Office of the Chancellor. Co-Sponsors: the Northeast Minnesota Historical Center and the Organization of American Historians.

Disability accommodations will be provided upon request. Call Drew Digby at 226-8657.