From Slavery to Freedom Lab

02/13/2020

For hundreds of years, enslaved people were bought and sold in America. Today most of the sites of this trade are forgotten. As part of The 1619 Project, we photographed 12 of them.

02/10/2020

The John Spencer Bassett Distinguished Professor of Art and Art History at Duke University, Richard Powell, is also one of our co-directors here at the lab! During our Black Images, Black Histories Conference, Prof. Powell compared recent paintings of the Obamas with art from the past in his insightful talk about the famed publication he co-wrote: "The Obama Portraits."

The From Slavery to Freedom Lab presented a two-day conference to explore iconic images and popular constructions of blackness in culture. Richard J. Powell ...

02/07/2020

Our Black Images, Black Histories Conference was such a success! Here, Rhea Combs shares insights into her curatorial practice at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture

The From Slavery to Freedom Lab presented a two-day conference to explore iconic images and popular constructions of blackness in culture. Rhea L. Combs is c...

01/16/2020

"'I’ve seen a number of prominent black artists and works by artists of color come through the Nasher in my time here, but I think there’s always room for more,' Cobb said. 'There’s always room for growth.'"

Read more from the Duke Chronicle's preview of "Amending American Art, Making Space for Black History"—tonight with Titus Kaphar!

(Event details here: Titus Kaphar: Making Space for Black History)

In Titus Kaphar’s “Behind the Myth of Benevolence,” Thomas Jefferson exists on a five-foot canvas, but the black woman seated behind his likeness indicates a bigger picture. 

12/09/2019

The From Slavery to Freedom Lab presents "Black Images, Black Histories," a conference from January 16–17, 2020 to explore iconic images and popular constructions of blackness in culture.

Thursday, January 16 | A conversation with Titus Kaphar
Event details: Titus Kaphar: Making Space for Black History

Friday, January 17 | A series of presentations
Event details: Black Images, Black Histories

Hope you'll save the date!

11/08/2019

Left of Black Season 6 Episode 8: Picturing Freedom + Citizenship in 19th Century Black Visual Culture, featuring lab co-director Dr. Jasmine Cobb. Link below!

The Digital Home for Duke University Professor and Left of Black host Mark Anthony Neal

10/02/2019

Inspired by late critic Claudia Tate's seminal text, "Black Women Writers at Work," the objective of the From Slavery to Freedom Lab's September 6th conference was to center the lives, histories, and contributions of black women in the academy as leaders, builders, architects, and visionaries.

The conference celebrated the lives and work of Drs. Carole Boyce Davies, Hazel Carby, Thadious Davis, Farah Jasmine Griffin, Beverly Guy-Sheftall, Deborah McDowell, Cheryl Wall, and Mary Helen Washington.

See the photos below and the video here: http://duke.is/WgBCE5

The From Slavery to Freedom Lab at the FHI invited and honored Black Women Writers to reflect on their lives and work: Drs. Carole Boyce Davies, Hazel Carby, Thadious Davis, Beverly Guy-Sheftall, Deborah McDowell, Cheryl Wall, and Mary Helen Washington. Dr. Farah Jasmine Griffin presented the keynote.

September 6, 2019 | Watch the video: http://duke.is/WgBCE5 | Photographs by Les Todd.

09/24/2019

FROM SLAVERY TO FREEDOM-A HISTORY OF AMERICAN NEGROES
By John Hope Franklin.

From Slavery to Freedom remains the most revered, respected, and honored text on the market. The preeminent history of African Americans, this best-selling text charts the journey of African Americans from their origins in Africa, through slavery in the Western Hemisphere, struggles for freedom in the West Indies, Latin America, and the United States, various migrations, and the continuing quest for racial equality. Building on John Hope Franklin's classic work, the ninth edition has been thoroughly rewritten by the award-winning scholar Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham. It includes new chapters and updated information based on the most current scholarship. With a new narrative that brings intellectual depth and fresh insight to a rich array of topics, the text features greater coverage of ancestral Africa, African American women, differing expressions of protest, local community activism, black internationalism, civil rights and black power, as well as the election of our first African American president in 2008. The text also has a fresh new 4-color design with new charts, maps, photographs, paintings, and illustrations.

, September 22, 1947, John Hope Franklin (activist and scholar) published From Slavery to Freedom. The definitive history of African Americans traces origins in Africa, years of slavery, and struggles for freedom.

It is still in print with more than 3 million copies sold. This book has been translated into many languages. It is widely considered the definitive survey text for courses in African American history. It delivers the whole truth about the Colonial transatlantic slave trade.

Franklin held teaching appointments at Saint Augustine’s and North Carolina Central before capping off his academic career at Duke, where an interdisciplinary and international studies center continues his pioneering work.

During his storied career, Franklin served as president of Phi Beta Kappa, the Organization of American Historians, the American Historical Association and the Southern Historical Association. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, in 1995.

Aside from his role as historian, scholar, civil rights activist and adviser to presidents, Franklin was known for nurturing more than 300 orchids in his Durham greenhouse and helping to establish the Durham Literacy Center.