Month / March 2021

by abritt

Slave Voyages Launches Consortium

Slave Voyages, a preeminent resource for the study of slavery and a digital memorial, recently launched a cooperative consortium with six other institutions to ensure its sustainability. The consortium includes Emory, the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University, the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the Omohundro Institute of Early American History & Culture at William & Mary, Rice University, and three campuses at the University of California that will assume a joint membership: UC Santa Cruz, UC Irvine and UC Berkeley. Slave Voyages contains the records of tens of thousands of trans-Atlantic and inter-American slaving voyages, and users can submit new records as they are encountered.

The database grew out of the archival research of Dr. David Eltis, Robert W. Woodruff Professor Emeritus in the Emory History Department. Dr. Allen E. Tullos, Professor of History and Director of the Emory Center for Digital Scholarship, has worked on an extensive update and expansion of the project since 2018. He serves on the project’s steering committee, along with Emory History Department graduate alumni Dr. Alex Borucki (University of California, Irvine) and Dr. Daniel B. Domingues da Silva (Rice University). Read more about launch of the consortium through a quote from Eltis below along with articles in the Atlanta Journal Constitution and from the Emory News Center.

“‘The launch of the SlaveVoyages.org consortium is an innovation not just for scholars of slavery, but for all soft money digital humanities projects,’ says David Eltis, Robert W. Woodruff Professor Emeritus of History and co-director of the SlaveVoyages project. ‘At long last, this consortium opens up a route to sustainability.‘

by abritt

Klibanoff and Students Offer Behind the Podcast Look at ‘Buried Truths’

Hank Klibanoff recently gave a behind the scenes look at the podcast he hosts, “Buried Truths.” The episode includes comments from Emory students, who participate in the research that goes into “Buried Truths.” Emory students are also key researchers for The Georgia Civil Rights Cold Cases Project, which Klibanoff directs. Klibanoff is James M. Cox Jr. Professor of Journalism and Associated Faculty in the History Department. Listen to the episode here: “Behind the Podcast.”

by abritt

Klibanoff Discussues Arbery Case on Anniversary of His Death for WABE’s ‘A Closer Look’

Hank Klibanoff, James M. Cox Jr. Professor of Journalism and Associated Faculty in the History Department, was recently a featured guest on “A Closer Look,” a show produced by Atlanta’s NPR affiliate, WABE. Hosted by Rose Scott, the interview focuses on the investigation of the murder of Ahmaud Arbery one year ago this past February. Klibanoff, who directs Emory’s The Georgia Civil Rights Cold Cases Project, dedicated season three of his podcast, “Buried Truths,” to the Arbery case. Listen to the episode here: “Activist, Legal Analyst, Professor Discuss The Ahmaud Arbery Case One Year After His Death.”

by abritt

Anderson Honors Life and Legacy of Amelia Boynton in ‘The Guardian’

Dr. Carol Anderson, Charles Howard Candler Professor of African American Studies and Associated Faculty in the History Department, was recently quoted in an article honoring the life and legacy of Amelia Boynton. Published in The Guardian, the piece provides an overview of the work of the influential Selma-based civil rights activist, who was instrumental in the grassroots organizing that led to Voting Rights Act of 1965. Read an excerpt from the article quoting Anderson below along with the full piece: “Fight to vote: the woman who was key in ‘getting us the Voting Rights Act.‘”

“‘She got us the Voting Rights Act,’ said Carol Anderson, a historian at Emory University.

“‘It’s one of the ‘failings,’ and I’ll put that in quotes, of the writings of the civil rights movement, is that women who are key in organizing are written out,’ she added. ‘The grassroots work of Mrs Boynton just didn’t get the kind of respect and honor that it deserved.'”

by abritt

Goldstein Moderates Conversation on Antisemitism at Emory Dental School

Dr. Eric L. Goldstein, Associate Professor of History and Judith London Evans Director of the Tam Institute for Jewish Studies, recently moderated a conversation about antisemitism at the Emory University Dental School. The talk featured Dr. Perry Brickman, author of the 2019 book Extracted: Unmasking Rampant Antisemitism in America’s Higher Education (Morgan James Publishing). Dr. Deborah E. Lipstadt, Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish History and Holocaust Studies and associated faculty in the History Department, wrote the forward for Extracted. Atlanta’s Breman Museum hosted the event as a part of their Atlanta Jewish History Talks winter series. Read more about the conversation here.

by abritt

Lipstadt Offers Tribute to George Shultz for Work Supporting Emigration of Soviet Jews

Dr. Deborah E. Lipstadt, Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish History and Holocaust Studies and associated faculty in the History Department, was recently quoted in a Jewish Telegraphic Agency article. The piece, “In extraordinary tribute, George Shultz hailed by Jewish leaders for helping free Soviet Jews,” praises the efforts of former U.S. secretary of state George Shultz (1982-89) to enable emigration of Soviet Jews from the USSR. Shultz died earlier this month at the age of 100. Read an excerpt quoting Lipstadt below, along with the full article.

“Deborah Lipstadt, professor of Holocaust studies at Atlanta’s Emory University, recalled an interview that Shultz gave the Los Angeles Times shortly after his term as secretary of state had ended. Asked to name the most memorable moment of his time in office, he said it was when he received a phone call from refusenik Ida Nudel announcing she was finally ‘home in Israel.‘

“That he told the press this was the highlight of his tenure gives you not only a measure of the man, but also a measure of how important this issue was for him,’ Lipstadt said. ‘We are privileged to have been touched by him.‘”