Ending Modern Slavery in the Built Environment

Interdisciplinary, Collaborative Course between Yale University and University of Michigan Law School, 2021-2024

The Yale School of Architecture, in conjunction with the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition, the Yale Law School, and the University of Michigan Law School, is offering an innovative course of study blending seminar-style inquiry, architectural studio practice, and client-focused experiential learning to confront and address issues of slavery in the built environment—both in its modern manifestations and through ongoing legacies of nineteenth century chattel slavery. The goal is to develop architectural, legal, and historical anti-slavery and anti-racism practice by creating new design processes informed by legal policy and historical honesty. This project is made possible through generous funding from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation.

Personnel

Project Leaders:

Phillip Bernstein, Yale School of Architecture Associate Dean and Professor Adjunct

Luis C.deBaca, Faculty, University of Michigan Law School in Ann Arbor

Doriane Meyer, GLC Postdoctoral Associate Fellow,  Lecturer in Yale School of Architecture

Yale Law School Advisor

Samuel Moyn, Henry R. Luce Professor of Jurisprudence, Yale Law School, and Professor of History, Yale University

Historical Advisor

David W. Blight, Sterling Professor of History and Director, Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition at the MacMillan Center at Yale University

Postdoctoral Fellow in Modern Slavery

TBD through competitive selection

Studio Faculty & Consultants

Rodney Leon, Rodney Leon Architects

Additional Studio Faculty and Consultants to be announced.