Arts can be researched as, a window into the past, but, it is in james baldwin. And that is nearly to the past and that is what they do the lecture itself was inspired by students in virginia. How the labor of enslaved people help to create that institution doctor mcguinness is the cultural historian and particularly the politics she is an awardwinning author, coauthor, and editor of six books slaves waiting for sale, abolitionist art, in the american slave trade. And, educated in tyranny, and jeffersons university, for which he won the charles c eldritch books prize from the smithsonian american art museum. Doctor mcinnis, receiving her b. A. At the university of virginia and, attended yale university, where she earned a ph. D. In art history. She is both an academic, and a public scholar. She is a lecturer, adviser, a curator at numerous art museums, and of course, the sixth president of stony brook university. This mantra to steve, president mcinnis. Good morning. Thank you so much professor, for letting me have the opportunity to speak with your class today. I am thrilled to be here. I know, the semester, you have been focused on what works of art, architecture, and objects can reveal about the past. How it is that art can be an important historical document that, often, reveals those found in written documents. Often, images, and places, is on an emotional level, and on a human level. In addition, it is going to the much broader audience, in talking about historical issues, which still have great resonance today. As scholars, and historians, we find ourselves at a moment when our voices, when our interventions, are more needed than ever. Looking at my own area of scholarship, many contemporary topics in the headlines today. Sexual violence, racialized police brutality, mass incarceration, racial injustice, political polarization, and all have deep, historical roots. Conversations about a pathway forward, often, require that we first grapple with the past, in order to understand its lingering legacies into the president. My years in the classroom have helped me understand the ways in which my research, in 19th americans south, as a deep resonance with issues of the president. I have worked with Historic Sites, and museums, on projects that were tied to local conversations about racial division, and injustice, memory, and symbolization, and it is a more inclusive future. I will also add, in my experience, the engagement has been among the most rewarding in our career. It is largely a solitary pursuit. The exhibitions i have been involved with have been enriched by the many ideas, and many different voices at the table. And working closely with community members, and in working with those not connected with higher for their input. So, today, i education, i have come to understand what is of greatest importance to them, and how our work will have a real impact on issues that matter to them, and all of my scholarship is richer for their input. So, today, i want to share with you two projects that were intended to engage the public, broadly. By using local places, and local issues, which were simultaneously connected to national conversations. I have found, for many people, the national, and the abstract, can be made more concrete, emotional, and tangible. By connecting it to real spaces, in a once local setting. To be more specific, much of the United States has a history that is deeply entangled with the history of enslavement, including, right here, on long island, and throughout the north. Yet, in most towns, and cities, the physical remnants of that history has been removed, for the face, and the obliterated. These histories are alive in the mystery of descendants. They often leave scars on the landscape, and echoes that reverberate today. The work for these histories going forward, and the work of making things visible, and that which has been obscured and has been a vital step in the process of remembering, reconciling, and moving forward towards a more inclusive future. The first project began in a scholarly way is in 2011 by the university of chicago. It was inspired by a series of paintings, and images, made by a british artist named eric crow, after his visit to america. They were all set in richmond virginia. It is Human Trafficking in the 1850s. What is particularly remarkable, about these images, is the very few images made by an artist, who had himself, witnessed, a slave auction. As a scholar, interested in the lived experience, i wanted to know what these images can tell us about the american slave trade, that went beyond with the documents could, also, reveal about that history. It was with the International Slave trade. The forcibly enslavement of 11 million african, sold into slavery in the new world. Around 500,000 of whom, ending up in one, to eventually, became the United States. But, the american slave trade is what happened after the u. S. Ended its participation in the International Slave trade, in 1808. After that, and robust trade emerged, selling people from the states of the upper south, especially maryland, and virginia, to the states of the lower south, think louisiana, mississippi, alabama. In response to the rising demand of labor, the demand of the southwest opened up to cotton cultivation. In this trade, nearly two thirds of 1 Million People were sold away from their families, and relocated hundreds of miles away, never to see their family members again. It is the story of, how the american southwest settled. Places, and objects, have a way of connecting us this really, and emotionally, with the past. I felt that these images would prove an important window into that history. I thought, with enough research, i might be able to find out, exactly, where the painter visited. What he had seen. I was hoping to use those spaces, to educate virginians about the horrors that had occurred there. I, especially, hope that i might be able to trace something of the lives of the people he represented. To understand the images, i needed to understand what the painter had seen. That research was like trying to piece together a complicated puzzle, with many pieces missing. Directory listings, newspaper listings, property newspaper listings, property deed research, the occasional deed research, the occasional list of people sold by traitorous, helping me, ultimately, to map the part of the city where this tree took place. Helped me figure out where the jailers, and auctioneers, had their places of business in 1853, when the painter was there. Then, i wanted to connect that to the contemporary landscape. With that reconstructed landscape in my head, using the painters description of his visit to the city, i could, then, figure out where crow walked, and, therefore, what he would have seen. Through that cultural mapping, compare richmonds experience with other cities. Looking for the lingering shadows of slavery in todays richmond proved a much more elusive. As the landscape had been forever altered by the addition, first, at the railroad, and second, at the interstate. As was so often the case when interstates were added in the 1950s, little heat was given to the land that belonged to, or held, the history of African Americans. That is, certainly, true in richmond. I95 terrace through the area the which is where the traders had their businesses. As i was starting my research, the city had begun its exploration of a place known to have served as a slave jail, and robert lumpkin. On the human traffic, or in more than two decades in richmond. The bank above it is i95, this is what they believe was the footprint of robert blood cans jail. So, they began to dig, hoping to find something of this area, that we had, actual, period evidence for. Their team dug down, and through infill, they were running into the remnant of creeks that used to flow their, and the constant flooding that they had to contend with. What they found were the footings of the original buildings, this unbelievable courtyard which had run the buildings, and were held in this jail, and it was weeks, or months, before they held their faith. It allowed us, ultimately, it is to reconstruct what the lumpkin property must have looked like. The only memorial, and the city of richmond, in 2011, was this monument called, the reconciliation statue. It was intended to connect the city of richmond, with liverpool. But, that revealed the confusion in the city had about what slave trade had taken place there. Because, when richmond heard slave trade, they thought, the International Slave trade. Yet, richmond wasnt even a town in 1808, when the slave trade and did. The story of Human Trafficking, in richmond, is of the this row in the american slave trade, and a statue connecting richmond, to new orleans, and mississippi, which would be more precise. Early on in the research for my book, we got involved in conversations about the role of the slave trade and, the citys history. The power of place in bearing witness to that story. Other than the statue, and the archaeological investigation that would soon be reburied, the city of richmond had a very different memorial landscape. The richmond, in the capital of the confederacy, tell the public landscape should be dominated by the substantial presence of the lost cause. A presence that included the has civil war monuments, and was kept alive of those who claimed heritage. It quickly became evident to me that i had an opportunity, and i would say, an obligation, about where they signed, and known, to richmond nurse. It is no one allusion that they would read my book. I found my partner, and began to work on an exhibition. My book had centered on exploring both the material experience of those fourth forced into the trade, in the way in which they further the abolitionist cause. I believed, in exhibition can help the city of richmond acknowledge, and confront this citys role in Human Trafficking for the 19th century. It is state archives, and a place willing to take on an exhibition, that was expected to be quite controversial, given the the reluctance of power to talk, honestly, about the cities slave trade in the past. So, as part of our planning is part of the focus groups, and invited educational leaders, church leaders, and members of the city council, and civic activists, are multiple meetings are some input on the plans. Richmond, was in the middle of the civil war. Then, in some cities, like charleston south carolina, the anniversary was initially greeted, as it had been, 50 years earlier, at the time of the centennial. With visions of hoopskirts, moonlight, and magnolias. The ghost of scarlett ohara, and the power of gone with the wind, not far from the celebrations. We wanted the images painted by eric crow, to play an Important Role in the exhibit. It was showing them crows painting, and the other top missing artifact we expected to include in the exhibition. What we quickly learned is that the images, and the intended meeting and the 19th century did not convey to modern audiences. It was quite quickly we learned how little trust the African American community had that a state agency would be willing to tell such an important story with honesty. It was a story they had known for decades, on an emotional level, and the ripping apart of families. But, it had so long been obliterated from the landscape, and from history books, and denied by those in power, that they were suspicious how we would handle it. They were our partners, and they guided us, in finding ways to tell a raw, powerful story, and they remained our important partners as the project progressed. It was in part of the citys reckoning, and the american civil war, it was to coincide with the end of the war. So, before our exhibition opened, the city became laser focused on the richmond slave trade. It is the mayor who proposed a Significant Development for the land there. The proposal included plans for a museum, over the lumpkin site. But, one that would be paid for, in part, buy money from commercial development. It would include a baseball stadium, for the minor League Richmond teen, hotels, and other commercial, and residential structures. Newspaper articles, and them didnt open forums to educate richmond on this history. It was the entire landscape, and was trying to contribute help make richmond ors understood the history thats at stake here. Very quickly, opposition arose, and is so close to the site of human suffering. When the exhibition opened, he was still a lively, debated topic. The exhibition itself, viewed by tens of thousands. It was more than ever had been made before. Many more than had bought my book, and it was made to the libraries available in the state. The library and virginia had voluminous records related to the slave trade, documents, and artifacts, that ample e demonstrate the scale of trade to those who had still may have tried it scale in richmond. The city that was by the 1840s, and 50s, is the south. It was the largest, economic industry in the city, in the period. So, we wanted to connect the exhibitors the visitors at the exhibit, then more than just paper. It was more than just crows images, and a visit to the city, that was the best way to do that. So just heard images from the 19th century had been powerful in the fight against slavery. It is so to our image isnt hard artifacts in telling that history today. We wanted to help modern audiences connect to these images. So i had worked with a group of scholars, at the university of richmond, and the digital scholars lab, to try to reconstruct richmond, in 1853. Because, by now, this area of richmond, modern richmond, is officers, and skyscrapers, in the interstate. A very modern landscape. So, we knew what we used about real buildings, and this is a photograph of one of the longest used auction houses, where people were sold. Then, to use that as a basis, to recreate richmond, in 1853. The richmond that air crow visited. So we created multiple interactive exhibits, many with voice recording, reading from period documents, other interactive is explaining details, and images, and in one short video, that i want to show you, it was our culmination. If you were to watch three minutes at the exhibit, this, hopefully, helped pull it all together. It is drawn from what the artist wrote about what he had seen and richmond, when he was there. So, let me play this. On a cold march day, in 1853, air crow arrived at the Railroad Depot on broad street. He made his way past the state capital, to his lodgings at the american hotel, on main street. On the 3rd of march, 1853, is a date well imprinted on my memory. I was sitting at an early breakfast, by myself, reading the abe lincoln local newspaper. It was not, however, the leaders, or politics, which attracted my eye, so much as the advertisement columns, containing the announcements of slave sales. Some of which, were to take place that morning, on wall street, close at hand, at 11 00. Arming myself with pencil, and a slipper to have paper, and putting these carefully into my pocket, i salad fourth on to the high street, and walked hundreds of yards down its steep declivity. I turned up one of the narrowest tallies of the many abutting points of the high street. The sales take place here with indoors, up on the ground floor of the houses, for a number. Outside the doors are hung small, garish flags, of blood red, upon which are pinned small manuscript descriptions of the negros to be successively disposed of. Once on wall street, crow went into the room of the first auction taking place, probably in the room of podium and davis. The auction was already underway when he arrived. On the platform, the dealer pointed to a young negress nearly 15, or 16 years of age, standing on the side. Holding a petticoat on the ground, immediately beneath, stood black health, or assistant, who looked around at the bitterness as the sum kept swelling from six, seven, to 800. I saw, one after the other, the inmates of this first auction room purchased, at various prices. Crow then moved with the crown to the second auction room, and then to the third. Either that of our h dickinson and brothers, or n b, and cb hill, on the corner of franklin, and wall street. He sketches the scene of a group of people seated on pensions before the start of the sale. I do not hesitate to pronounce this get the spectacle who had presented itself to be the most touching, which could be will reveal to the site. I found in it, a perfect composition. In a hardly justifiable fit of enthusiasm, one time and place are considered, i took out pencil, and paper. His sketching aroused significant scrutiny. He was eventually chased out of the auction room, as they were convinced he was an abolitionist. Crow, quickly, wandered back down wall street, and blended into the crowd on main street. What he missed seeing where the multiple jail complexes near the auction rooms, where people were held before sale. The most notorious of these, lumpkins jail, was a block north, on wall street. As crow continued to explore the city, he once again, encountered the slave trade, perhaps unexpectedly, and the Railroad Terminal on eight straight. Here, recently, those who had been purchased on wall street are being forced into railroad cars, and wagons, from a long journey, further southward. We saw the usual exodus of negroe slaves, marched under the escort of the new owners, across the town, to the railway station, where they took places, and went south. In the years since the exhibition was up, in 2015, the mayors proposal for the baseball stadium was defeated. Conversations have continued. Since then, the city, and, the now mayor, a different mayor, have recently proposed a new Development Plan for the area. One that has listened to the community. This proposal, centering around the memorialization of important, African American historical sites. A museum, and cultural revitalization, of this part of the city, that is more inclusive. It is not clear whether this proposal will, ultimately, move forward, but it is clear that the conversations are more respectful of the history that took place in this part of richmond. The city has moved forward, and other deeply symbolic, and picks difficult ways. Throughout the city, the monuments that exerted white power, and jim crow segregation. Those monuments, to the generals of the civil war, have been removed. Including, the first, and largest, that, to robert e. Lee. That since the murder of george floyd, has become a site of protest, and the rewriting of public memory, and that city. The second project, focused on the university of virginia. I was on the faculty at uva, and taught courses on history of american s