Gilder Lehrman Center turns 20
The Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition at the MacMillan Center celebrated the 20th anniversary of its founding last Friday with a panel discussion on the life of Frederick Douglass, whose 200th birthday was also last week.
The panel — moderated by Jacqueline Goldsby, who chairs the African American Studies Department — featured professors from around the world, including Leigh Fought, M. Nzadi Keita, Sarah Meer, Hannah Rose Murray and Gilder Lehrman Center Director David Blight, a Yale history professor whose biography of Douglass will come out in late 2018. The discussion focused on Douglass’ private life — the women in his life, his overseas connections and his personal friendships. Through examinations of his two marriages, his extended family and his speaking engagements in Great Britain, the panelists sought to paint a more complete and nuanced picture of Douglass.