1619: The Making of America

Upcoming Events

Beginning on October 15th, Virginia Wesleyan College is hosting a series of events as part of the 1619: The Making of America series. You can find more information at http://www.vwc.edu/1619

2015 Call for Papers and Presentations

Please note the date of the conference has changed to Wednesday, Sept. 16th, 2015.

Deadline for submission of proposals: Sept. 1, 2015

"The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice."
[1918 reprinting of Theodore Parker’s sermon, “Justice” in Readings from Great Authors by John Haynes Holmes, Harvey Dee Brown, Helen Edmunds Redding, and Theodora Goldsmith.]

"I do not pretend to understand the moral universe, the arc is a long one, my eye reaches but little ways. I cannot calculate the curve and complete the figure by the experience of sight; I can divine it by conscience. But from what I see I am sure it bends towards justice."
[Theodore Parker was a Unitarian minister and prominent American Transcendentalist born in 1810 who called for the abolition of slavery. The excerpt was taken from the 1853 a collection of “Ten Sermons of Religion” by Parker was published and the third sermon titled “Of Justice and the Conscience.”]

“The arc of the moral universe is long . . . but it bends toward justice.”
[Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered the Baccalaureate sermon at the commencement exercises for Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut in 1964.]

The Joseph Jenkins Roberts Center for African Diaspora Studies (Roberts Center) at Norfolk State University (NSU), in partnership with the Civil Rights Institute (CR Institute) at Hampton University (HU), is hosting a one-day conference, 1619: Making of America that will be held at Hampton University on September 16, 2015. This year’s conference theme, The Arc of Social Justice: From 1619 to the 1965 Voting Rights Act and Beyond, offers scholars and participants from various disciplines a unique platform to engage in dialogue about important issues defining new interpretations of 1619 in American history. This year’s focus seeks papers that will place events stemming from 1619 within the context of Atlantic migration, culture, and race, and will emphasize the wide-ranging, familiar, and mobile character of the African Diaspora. The overarching point is that Chesapeake society was part of a hybrid and global culture predicated on intimate and overlapping encounters among Africans, Native Americans, Western Europeans, and other cultures from around the globe.

The conference will culminate in an important Round Table Discussion, moderated by radio personality Barbara Hamm Lee and involving legal scholars who will discuss America’s legal progression to full civil rights for all its citizens. Free and open to the public, this evening Round Table Discussion will be filmed for video podcast and is designed to be engaging and educational.

Abstracts/Panel proposals
Prospective presenters should submit an abstract of 500 words or less to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. by September 1, 2015. Abstracts should include the presenter’s name, title of paper, institutional affiliation, and contact information (mailing address, phone number, and email address) and should be submitted as Microsoft Word files. Please note that acceptance of an abstract for the conference automatically grants the conference organizers the right to publish it in the conference program and website. Upon acceptance, presenters are required to register for the one day conference.

Conference presenters may be asked to submit their paper for publication in an edited book.

Conference Registration Fees
Mandatory registration fees for the conference: Regular: $35 (per day); Students: $20, by September 11, 2015 (lunch included). Online conference registration will be available soon. For additional conference details, including accommodations, go to our website at www.1619makingofamerica.com.

Please email abstracts to:
Dr. Dr. William Alexander ( This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. )

We are soliciting papers that will reflect one or more of the following conference themes:

• Law and Public Policy in the Making of America
• The Arc of Social Justice
• The creation of Legal Inequality in American Society and the Consequences
• Policing and Minority Communities in America
• Relationship between Power with Fairness and Justice
• Benefits and Consequences of Questioning / Challenging Social Order
• The Meaning of Legal Invisibility
• Class, Ethnicity, and the Origins of America’s Social System
• Diaspora Communities in the Americas
• Establishing Racial Hierarchies in Early America
• Intersections of Race and Culture in Colonial America
• Land Rights, Legal Ownership, and the Evolution of American Wealth
• Remembering America’s Cultural Foundations –Cultural Memory Crafted through National and State Parks, Memorials, and Museums
• Native Peoples in Colonial America
• Reassessing America’s Legal and Representative System and Rule of Law
• Slavery and Native Peoples in America

Mary Kelsey Peake: Missionary to the Contrabands and Educator of the People

Join us on Thursday, April 30th at 7pm in the Archives Lecture Room of Lyman Beecher Brooks Library at Norfolk State University for a discussion of the life and legacy of Mary Kelsey Peake, a teacher and activist whose life touched many in Civil-War era Hampton Roads.

Speakers at the event include Eric Claville, Assistant Professor of Political Science and director of the Pre-Law Institute at Hampton University; Cassandra Newby-Alexander, Professor of History and Director of the Joseph Jenkins Roberts Center for African Diaspora Studies at Norfolk State University; and William Braxter Wiggins, historian and CEO of Cliosult and Associates of Hampton, Virginia.

1619 in the News

The conference is getting some publicity through Cox Channel 11 and the Virginia General Assembly King Commission.

Conference of Interest

We received the following message that may be of interest:

The Planning Committees for the Fifth National Civil Rights Conference (hereafter Conference) is in the process of preparing for the June 2015 national conference. The Planning Committee solicits your support by encouraging you to (1) participate in the Conference, and (2) post the attached Conference announcement in a newsletter, on social media and/or another medium that is shared with your membership, associations and friends.

For more information about the 2015 Conference (i.e., theme, registration and host community) visit the Conference website (http://civilrightsconference.com) and click on the information tab in upper right corner.

New Videos of the 2014 Conference

The videos from the 2014 conference have begun to arrive from the editors as both shorts with clips from panels and speakers and full videos of the sessions. You can find all the videos on our Youtube Channel. The full videos have also been linked from the 2014 Conference Schedule. As more videos are received, the schedule and Youtube channel will be updated.

1619 on With Good Reason

With Good Reason Radio hosts a discussion entitled "Witches, Slaves and Heroines" that features a clip from Dr. Page Laws, Dr. Maureen Elgersman Lee, and Dr. Paul Finkelman from our 2014 conference.

Thanks and Stay Tuned

Thank you all for taking part in the 3rd 1619: The Making of America conference. We heard some incredible scholarship, beautiful dance and music, had great conversations, great food and made important connections.

Over the next few weeks we will be posting photos, video and other materials from the two days of the conference. If you have something you want to contribute for our online archive, please contact us.

Teacher Continuing Education Credit

Public school teachers who are interested in earning college credit for continuing education at the 1619: The Making of America conference can do so through our partnership with Hidden Heritage Education. Teachers wishing to enroll in undergraduate or graduate CEUs should contact Mr. Bruce Williams at Hidden Heritage Education through the link above.

NSU-Hampton Bus Schedule for Thursday, Sept. 18

A bus for NSU students and faculty will run from 8am to 7pm between NSU and Hampton U. The bus will leave NSU at 8am from the flagpole in front of the C wing of Brown Memorial Hall and will circulate between the two campuses every two hours (8, 10, noon, 2pm and 4pm from NSU).

1619: Echoes of Diaspora Spoken Word Invitational

The first annual 1619: Echoes of Diaspora* contest challenges both high school and undergraduate students to frame the varied experiences of dislocation utilizing their unique skills. Three works from high school students and three from undergraduate students will be selected as award winning with the expectation that they will be performed by their authors at the 1619: The Making of America Third Annual Conference. Secondary School and Undergraduate College students will perform the winning submissions during the afternoon programs on Thursday, September 18, 2014 at Hampton University and Friday, September 19, 2014 at Norfolk State University.

Submission Requirements:

1. Invitational is open to all students in grades 8-12 and undergraduate college students.

2. All poems submitted must coincide with the theme, BEING AMERICAN: WHAT IS YOUR TRUE IDENTITY?

3. Aside from poetry entries consistent with the theme, poems should not include any profanity and will be judged based on adherence to theme, creativity, and complexity of ideas.

4. All poems should have a header that includes the title of the poem and must be 3 minutes or less in performance length.

5. All poems should be original and unpublished works. Plagiarism is prohibited, and any student who plagiarizes will immediately be disqualified.

6. There will be two brackets of competition for the Invitational:
a. Secondary Level
b. College Level

7. Five submissions from each of the two categories will be invited to perform their prescreened poems during the 4:30 p.m. programs on September 18, 2014 at Hampton University and September 19, 2014 at Norfolk State University during the 1619: The Making of America conference.

8. Submissions must be received electronically no later THAN 5 P.M. ON FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2014.
a. Submissions by students in Secondary School must include the names and contact information of their parents.

9. Students will be notified whether their entries were selected by Monday, September 15, 2014.

To Submit Entries, please email your poem using Times New Roman font and 12 point font size in a Word document to Sheldon Collins: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

*The Diaspora is defined as the scattering of populations with common origin in a smaller geographic area. It has come to refer particularly to historical mass dispersions of an involuntary nature, such as the African Trans-Atlantic slave trade, the expulsion of Jews from Judea and the forced relocation of Native Americans from their ancestral lands. The residual effects of these diffusions have been chronicled in forms of literature and oral histories throughout the ages but very seldom tackled by poets and spoken word artists.

Interviews filmed at our conferences are part of an award winning TV spot

You can read about the award on WHRO's website.

2014 Conference

The 2014 1619: The Making of America Conference will be held September 18-19th, 2014 at Hampton University and Norfolk State University. The call for papers has been posted, please submit your papers to the conference organizers by June 1st!

Civil Rights Roundtable Video Available

The video of the Civil Rights Roundtable is now available, thanks to the great work of our sponsors, Cox Communications.

You can also watch the film on the Cox Channel 11 website or find it airing on Channel 11 and Cox On Demand.

What do historians do on a snow day?

After we catch up on email, check on our online courses, try to do a little writing (I think I got one sentence written so far today), we play around online just like everyone else.

Today we've been playing with the Digital Public Library of America's website (Stephanie Richmond, your lowly content provider, is a Community Rep). I searched their collection for "Virginia" and then pulled up the timeline function and found there were not very many documents in the 1610s and 20s, but was is there is fascinating.

For 1619 there are three documents, one is a dud (nothing to do with Virginia at all, it just came from the Library of Virginia), and the other two are the poll tax listing for 1619 and a map of Virginia and Florida published by Jodocus Hondius in Amsterdam. 1621 and 1622 have some interesting items as well, a genealogy of a Virginia family and a poem written by a Virginian about the massacre of the Virginia colonists in 1622 during the conflict with the Powhatans. This was the conflict that Anthony Johnson survived.

If you want to learn more about the DPLA, please check out their website or contact the community rep in your area to schedule a presentation.

Happy Holidays from the Project

Now that all of us academics are on winter break, we'd like to take a minute to say happy holidays to all of our friends and supporters. We hope you all have a safe, peaceful and fun holiday season. As we head into 2014, we would love to hear from you all about what kinds of programming you would like to see at the 2014 conference, which has the theme of "Culture." We hope to bring you music, art, dance and literature from the 17th century to today which connects the themes of race, gender and law.

If you are crafty and looking for an interesting project, check out Colonial Williamsburg's project to recreate Pocahontas' wedding jacket.

Virginia's plans for 1619

Recently an article popped up on my twitter feed announcing "Another Anniversary Looms for Jamestown." The Virginia Gazette article lists the four critical events of 1619 and claims that the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation "recently heard about" the impending anniversary. Apparently the Gazette hasn't heard about our exciting conference series!

Finals Days to Register

The conference program has been finalized, and final preparations are underway to hold the second annual 1619:The Making of America conference.

Preregistration closes at 11:59pm on Tuesday, September 24th. If you plan to attend, please register before the end of the day on Tuesday. Registration is available at the door for an additional $5 per day.

See us on TV!

Here is the full video that we shot with the Norfolk TV station.

And Dr. Newby-Alexander and Dr. Alexander on Hampton City TV.

2013 Schedule

The final schedule for the 2013 conference is now available. Click here to see the exciting array of panel discussions and events.

Watch us on Norfolk TV

1619 Updates

We've made a lot of progress on putting together the final schedule for the conference and are now seeking volunteers to help pull all of this together. We need volunteers in Hampton on Thursday, September 26th and in Norfolk on Friday the 27th. To sign up to help with the conference, please email Stephanie Richmond at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with your availability and preferred position. We need help with registration, panel moderator assistants, Ride Share desk, and speaker's room aides.

There are also a lot of wonderful events going on in the area in the next few weeks, including the Nottoway Powwow on Sept. 21-22nd and events at Hampton History Museum.

Members of the 1619 Committee on TV

Calvin Pearson of Project 1619 and Chadra Pitman-Walke of the Sankofa Projects were interviewed on the City of Hampton's Channel 47. You can see their interview at noon, 6pm and 10pm every day this week if you live in Hampton Roads, or on YouTube.

Tonight on Blog Radio!

Dr. Coleman is one of the featured speakers at the upcoming 1619:The Making of American conference. She is speaking on the radio tonight about her new book.

*** On Native Trailblazers Blog Radio - Friday Night, July 26, 2013

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/nativetrailblazers/2013/07/26/black-indians-racism-and-blood-quantum

Black Indians, Racism and Blood Quantum, Vincent Schilling will be speaking with Dr. Arica Coleman - An African American / American Indian Professor of Black Studies at the University of Delaware about Black Indians, Racism and Native American Blood Quantum.

Website: www.NativeTrailblazers.com

Dr. Arica Coleman’s Book, "That the Blood Stay Pure", is due for release in September.

The link to pre-order the book is –

http://www.iupress.indiana.edu/product_info.php?cPath=1037_1112_1564&products_id=806959

Liberian connection to the US in the news

Smithsonian Magazine published an article in 2003 discussing the connections between Liberia, then undergoing political turmoil, and the United States. Few know that the West African country was founded by Americans and settled by African-Americans who sought to start a new life free from slavery and setting up a society structured much like the United States: with a wealthy ruling class supported by servants. The legacy of the founding of Liberia has haunted the nation in the form of political strife between the ruling leaders, once second class citizens in the US, and the indigenous people of the region. Read the article for yourself at Smithsonian Magazine.