History symposium to explore 'race and society in the Atlantic World'

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An upcoming history symposium at Virginia Commonwealth University will explore the topic of race, illustrating the ways in which race has been perceived, represented and used in the development of societies on both sides of the Atlantic.

The Alexandrian Society Symposium, "Race and Society in the Atlantic World," will feature scholars from the fields of anthropology, history, political science and sociology. It will be held from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on April 23 in the VCU Student Commons. It will be free and open to the public.

The Alexandrian Society, a VCU student organization for history majors and other students interested in history, is presenting the event, under the direction of Bernard Moitt, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of History in the College of Humanities and Sciences.

"Race has been has an important and intriguing phenomenon from at least the 15th century when Europeans went overseas and encountered peoples whose skin color, cultures and traditions were different from their own," Moitt said, in describing the event. "The contact of cultures and intermingling that ensued led Europeans to view difference as inferior. And the rise of the Atlantic trade in enslaved Africans from 1441, along with the institutionalization of racial slavery in the Americas which followed and lasted for centuries, served to harden racial lines and attitudes. Dire as it was for the other in many respects, this encounter brought about a series of changes over time that resulted in the development of the modern world."

Scholars from VCU, Johns Hopkins University, Virginia Tech, Columbia University and the College of William & Mary will present at the symposium. Michael Blakey, Ph.D., a National Endowment for the Humanities professor at William & Mary, will deliver the keynote address, "The Idea of Race."

The symposium is supported by the Student Government Association, the Department of History, the College of Humanities and Sciences, the Honors College and the Office of Global Education.