The University Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice begins its Fall 2004 programming tonight with a lecture by John Hope Franklin, the African American historian who experienced the Tulsa race riots of 1921, worked as a researcher on Thurgood Marshall's Brown v. Board of Education team, marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in Selma, Ala., and served as the Chair of President Bill Clinton's National Initiative on Race.
Franklin, who will turn 90 in January, is the James B. Duke Professor Emeritus of History at Duke University. He is the author of "From Slavery to Freedom," the seminal 1945 history of African Americans, currently in its eighth edition with over 3 million copies in print. In 1995, President Clinton awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Franklin's talk will address why it is imperative to discuss issues of race in American society, said Professor of American Civilization James Campbell, chair of the Committee on Slavery and Justice.
"This is a person whose life spans virtually the entire 20th century," Campbell said. "He encourages black and white Americans to reflect deeply on our shared history."
In the fall of 2003, President Ruth Simmons charged the committee with a mandate of examining how the University can come to terms with its historical ties to the Rhode Island slave trade. When the committee's work got underway last March, the University chose to let the New York Times break the story, resulting in national media attention that some committee members said focused too narrowly on whether Brown would offer some type of monetary reparations to the descendants of slaves.
In an April 28, 2004, op-ed in the Boston Globe, Simmons distanced the committee's work from the heated reparations debate, writing that the payment of reparations would not be the outcome of the committee's work.
Concerns that a frank discussion of race on campus would dissuade older, more conservative Brown alumni from donating to the University seem to have been proven false, Campbell said, citing the recent news of several large donations to Brown. "People are really excited that there's a university that's willing to talk about its own past. This is actually a university trying to act like how a university should act," he said.
To combat any lingering misunderstandings after last year's media blitz, the committee is planning a "town meeting" event on Oct. 19, where members of the Brown community will have the chance to meet committee members and share experiences, information and opinions, Campbell said.
In addition to tonight's lecture and the town hall meeting, the committee is bringing a series of speakers to campus this semester. Edward Ball '82, the best-selling author of "Slaves in the Family," will speak Oct. 5. Ball's memoir recounts his quest to trace both the black and white descendants of his Southern plantation family. Spencer Crew '71, director of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center and former director of the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institute, will speak Nov. 9.
Seth Magaziner '06, the only undergraduate currently serving on the committee, encouraged Brown students to attend committee-sponsored events.
"The people we're bringing in, they are the best and foremost experts in these fields," Magaziner said. "We got a chunk of money from the (University) and we're using it to bring in these speakers."
Also this semester, the committee has given birth to an undergraduate Group Research Project on slavery and justice directed by Campbell. According to Magaziner, a search is underway for one or two more undergraduate committee members. The students may or may not be drawn from the ranks of the research project, Magaziner added.
The committee will produce a report during the Fall 2005 detailing its research and suggesting ways for Brown to deal constructively with its historical ties to slavery. And according to Magaziner, the committee's work will be detailed in upcoming publications unaffiliated with the University, including a New Yorker article by Frances Fitzgerald, author of "Vietnam: Spirits of the Earth," and a book by Mary Jane Ross, co-author of "In the Company of Men," the memoir of Nancy Mace, the first woman to attend the Citadel Academy.
