Observing 1619: The African Diaspora in American History and Culture

FAIN: AB-50131-13

Norfolk State University (Norfolk, VA 23504-8050)
Cassandra L. Newby-Alexander (Project Director: July 2012 to May 2015)

Two symposia, several teacher workshops, and the development of educational resources on the African diaspora in the New World, with a focus on the arrival of twenty Africans at Old Point Comfort (Fort Monroe, Virginia) in August 1619.

The Joseph Jenkins Roberts Center of Norfolk State University (NSU) proposes two symposia and teacher workshops to focus on the arrival of the "20. and odd" West-Central Africans to the Chesapeake shores in 1619. These meetings will use the approaching 400th anniversary of this landmark year to fulfill three objectives related to teaching and studying the humanities. First, these sessions will broaden the way in which Virginia primary and secondary school instructors view and teach the history of American race relations. Second, they will create a forum for educators from all levels to gather and discuss the direction of Atlantic studies and scholarship on the African Diaspora. Finally, these meetings will provide a jumping off point for a series of public and commemorative events to be held throughout the Hampton Roads region of Virginia that will mark and publicize the significance of 1619 to American society.