Mississippi State University will host a lecture on the abolition of the slave trade Wednesday at 4 p.m. The event is part of the Institute for Humanities’ Distinguished Lecture Series.
Professor Christopher Brown of Columbia University will be discussing slavery and its abolition within Great Britain, which is considered one of the most important historical events since the Renaissance. The public program titled, “Anniversaries and Teleologies: Slave Trade Abolition Two Hundred Years Later,” will be held in the McCool Hall Atrium.
Brown is the author of “Moral Capital: Foundations of British Abolitionism and Arming Slaves: From the Classical Era to the Modern Age.” “Moral Capital” won him the Frederick Douglas prize in 2007. Brown is currently working on two more projects focused on Britain and slavery.
William Anthony Hay, coordinator for the Institute for Humanities’ Distinguished Lecture Series, said bringing in visiting professors is a good thing for MSU.
“Most students and members of the wider university community think of slavery in terms of the American South; it was a phenomenon found through the Western Hemisphere and Atlantic World into the 19th century,” he said. “Having professor Brown with us to discuss the story of abolition in this wider context and its historical meaning is a great opportunity.”
Junior biological science major Frad Barry said he was interested in the lecture.
“I think that’s interesting. I might go if I remember,” Barry said.
He also said he would enjoy hearing people speak about more present history in the lecture series.
“You spend so much time on everything else in Modern U.S. History [the class] that present history gets overlooked,” Barry said.
Hay said the lecture series aims to provide opportunities for intellectual engagement. The events provide the MSU community with speakers – both nationally and internationally known – that would not have otherwise come to Mississippi.
He said the speakers have recently published a book that provides the subject for the lecture. The goal is to have an interesting lecture that brings out an important facet of the humanities and arts.
“If our audience comes away seeing familiar things in a new light based upon careful scholarship, then we count the event a great success,” Hay said.
He said the series began in 2005. The attendance among undergraduates, faculty and staff has been strong. People in the Starkville community regularly attend, as well as people in the rest of the Golden Triangle region. The series has even had attendees from Jackson, Tupelo and Oxford.
“Frankly, there is nothing anywhere else in Mississippi or neighboring states to match the intellectual quality of the series,” Hay said.
Later this year, the series will host lectures by the distinguished classicist Adrian Goldsworthy and Duke Literature professor Thomas Pfau.
“If you glance through the people we’ve had and are scheduled to welcome soon, you’ll see both the breadth of topics and the quality of work they present,” Hay said.