Familial ties to slavery, bound by vintage first-person accounts

An article in The New York Times reports on a workshop for the descendants of authors of slave narratives organized by Kari Winter, professor of transnational studies, that brought together the ancestors of famous figures like Dred Scott, Solomon Northrup, Venture Smith and Jeffrey Brace for a personal conversation about history, memory and identity. Being a slave meant being “genealogically isolated, with no right of kinship,” Winter said. “The fact that you are here, relating ancestor to descendant, and descendant to ancestor, is really powerful.” The article also appeared in the Tampa Bay Times. University Communications worked closely with The New York Times to facilitate the visit to Buffalo by their reporter and photographer to cover the unique and important three-day conference.

Read more:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/04/arts/familial-ties-to-slavery-bound-by-vintage-first-person-accounts.html?ref=arts&_r=0

http://www.tampabay.com/news/nation/familial-ties-to-slavery-bound-by-vintage-first-person-accounts/2252511