How can one know where he is going if he does not know where he came from? Novelists, griots, travel writers, and sacred storytellers are all forms of gatekeepers that help give us intimate looks into the accounts of our history. The panel discussion on literary translations of 1619 examined how the past has, and [...]
The Legacy of Weyanoke: A Journey Through Song
Taking a less tense and musical tone, “Legacy of Weyanoke” took the remnants of the days’ conference attendees on a journey from Africa to the American South through song. The quartet was accompanied by their two-person band. While playing bongo drums, maracas, a tambourine, and a cabasa, the kente-cloth-wearing group sang African chant songs, and [...]
The Creolization of America: Beyond Black, White, and Red
Room 138B in the Norfolk State student center held a lively and almost heated roundtable discussion on how the 1619 era affected Native American, African, and European American culture. Conference-goers shared knowledge on the matter, attempting to answer such questions as “Why did Europeans specifically bring Africans to America?”; “Who’s role in the shaping of [...]
Food For Thought: Scholarly Teachings on Historical Matters
Norfolk State University students, faculty, and a host of other conference-goers took time to eat and reflect on the 1619 era through research from great historian scholars. Dr. Corey D.B. Walker of Brown University, Dr. Ben Vinson III of Johns Hopkins University, and Dr. Peter Wallenstein of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University each gave [...]
The Colombian Exchange and Iberian Legacy In 1619
“Remember the big world all the people were living in”, summoned Dr. Richard Bond of Virginia Wesleyan University, as scholarly minds discussed the effects of transitional patchwork between African-Americans, and Latinos in the colonial American experience. For Native Americans, Africans, Latin Americans, minorities of Latino or Hispanic descent, Spaniards and Portuguese, as well as Europeans, [...]