200th ANNIVERSARY OF THE ABOLITION OF U.S. TRANSATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE COMMEMORATED AT NEW YORK UNIVERSITY FROM OCTOBER 9 - 11, 2008
MAYA ANGELOU HOSTS OPENING PLENARY OF SLAVE ROUTES: RESISTANCE, ABOLITION AND CREATIVE PROGRESS SYMPOSIUM


    NEW YORK, NY October 01, 2008 /New Jersey News Articles/ -- To commemorate the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the Transatlantic slave trade by the United States, New York University will host Slave Routes: Resistance, Abolition and Creative Progress, an international symposium convened to examine slavery, the slave trade and its consequences from October 9 - October 11, 2008 in New York.

Maya Angelou will host the opening plenary at Harlem's Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture on Thursday, October 9 at 7:00 p.m., which will feature Amiri Baraka, Mary Frances Berry, Howard Dodson, Manthia Diawara, Jayne Cortez, Ali Mazrui, Rex Nettleford and Michael Gomez.

"Recognition of the 200th anniversary of the Transatlantic slave trade's abolition effectively provides an opportunity to pause and reflect upon the experience and progress of the nation's African-descended population," explained Michael Gomez, a professor at both NYU's Department of History and Department of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, who is considered one of the leading scholars on slavery in the Americas.

"The 1807-1808 abolition, though it ended neither slavery nor clandestine trafficking in enslaved Africans, was nonetheless a critical turning point in the long and difficult transition from slavery to citizenship. The extent to which full citizenship has been achieved remains an open question, and is inextricably bound to issues of race, gender, class, and culture," pointed out Gomez, who is also the former chair of the Department of History for both NYU and Spelman College and the author of Reversing Sail: A History of the African Diaspora and The Transformation of African Identities in the Colonial and Antebellum South.

Slave Routes will showcase three days of panel discussions, literary readings, musical performances, film, and video screenings presented by distinguished scholars, writers, musicians, visual artists, and organizers from the U.S., Africa, Europe, the Caribbean, and South America. Participants include: Quincy Troupe, Keith David, Melvin Edwards, Maryse Conde, Eugene Redmond, Clyde Taylor, Saidiya Hartman, Robert Chrisman Kalamu ya Salaam, Randy Weston, Gloria Browne-Marshall, Seret Scott and Jenifer Morgan.

"Historically the arts were used by African people to document and protest slavery, the slave trade and consequences," said poet Jayne Cortez, co-founder of the Organization of Women Writers of Africa (OWWA), who is also co-convener of the symposium. "In every period along the way artists have been involved in the creation of resistance and freedom music, literature, dance and visual art and have developed works of art for places of remembrance as well as using points of memory as points of departure in art."

Panel topics at Slave Routes will encompass issues, such as: political, psychological and cultural consequences of the slave trade; health and education development along the route; colonial land issues in the 21st century; contemporary slavery; child soldiers/ workers; the ancient route of the slave and modem route of the African immigrant; and the ramifications of New Orleans.

"The Schomburg Center has been part of the UNESCO Slave Route Project since its inception over a decade ago. It shares the project's mission of 'breaking the silence' surrounding public discussions of the slave trade and slavery," said historian Howard Dodson, Chief of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. "The failure of the United States to commemorate the bicentennial of the abolition of the slave trade act this year is one reason why initiatives like the Slave Route Project are necessary. The Schomburg Center is pleased to join with NYU to continue to 'break the silence.'"

The slave trade abolition bicentennial has occurred during the historic run of the first black presidential candidate from a major party. "That Barack Obama may become the nation's first black president in the very year that we recognize the bicentennial of the slave trade's abolition is cause for sober assessment," Gomez pointed out. "Senator Obama's remarkable achievements suggest that many Americans are prepared to move in significant ways beyond certain racial barriers."

New York University's Institute of African American Affairs and NYU's Africana Studies Program are hosting the global symposium. Slave Routes, supported by UNESCO's Slave Routes Project, is co-sponsored by Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Organization of Women Writers of Africa, Inc, Syracuse University's Department of African American Studies and the NYU Institute for Public Knowledge. The African Diaspora Slave Routes Organizing Committee provides additional support.

Slave Routes' panels and screenings are free to the public. The concerts will have fees. Registration is required. For more information contact NYU Institute of African American Affairs at 212-998-4222 or http://africanastudies.as.nyu.edu/object/slaveroutes08

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