Memorial To Enslaved Laborers: Recognizing UVA’s History

180 McCormick Road,Charlottesville VA 22903

10 June, 2022

Description

Memorial To Enslaved Laborers: Recognizing UVA’s History Over the past decade, U.S. colleges and universities have begun paying greater attention to the historical role of slavery at their institutions. In 2013, the University of Virginia began a deeper dive into its (historical) relationship with slavery, exploring opportunities for recognition and commemoration. In 2016, after having spent substantial time investigating and interpreting significant buildings and sites related to slavery, UVA hired a design consultant to gather community feedback about a possible memorial. Today, the Memorial is complete. In this talk, you will learn about the history of the enslaved laborers at UVA and the site significance of this Memorial that honors the lives, labor, and resistance of the estimated 4,000 individuals who built and maintained the University. Join us for this opportunity to learn about the Memorial to Enslaved Laborers at UVA. Hosted in partnership with Alumni Association. Speaker Biography Kirt von Daacke, Assistant Dean and Professor of History, A&S Kirt von Daacke is Assistant Dean, Undergraduate College of Arts & Sciences, and Professor of History in Corcoran Department of History in the College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences at the University of Virginia. His research centers upon social constructions of race, community social hierarchies, and identity in eighteenth and nineteenth century America. He is especially fascinated with studying the complex interplay of race and culture in the antebellum South. His first book, Freedom Has a Face: Race, Identity, and Community in Jefferson's Albemarle, 1780-1865, was published by the University of Virginia Press in 2012. He has also begun research for a second book-length project examining the history of a nineteenth century interracial island fishing community in coastal Maine. Additionally, von Daacke is excited to co-chair the UVA President's Commission on Slavery and the University. Those scholarly interests grew out of his experience as an undergraduate history major at the University of Virginia, where so many of his professors challenged and inspired him as a thinker and scholar, both inside and outside the classroom. He is excited to have returned to UVA and to have the opportunity to guide current University students as they discover and pursue their own academic interests.