Events

Past Event

Eric Herschthal - The Science of Abolition

July 22, 2021
6:00 PM - 7:00 PM
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Online

Event Description

In the context of slavery, science is usually associated with slaveholders’ scientific justifications of racism. But abolitionists were equally adept at using scientific ideas to discredit slaveholders.

Looking beyond the science of race, The Science of Abolition shows how Black and white scientists and abolitionists drew upon a host of scientific disciplines—from chemistry, botany, and geology, to medicine and technology—to portray slaveholders as the enemies of progress. From the 1770s through the 1860s, scientists and abolitionists in Britain and the United States argued that slavery stood in the way of scientific progress, blinded slaveholders to scientific evidence, and prevented enslavers from adopting labor-saving technologies that might eradicate enslaved labor.

Event Speaker

Eric Herschthal, Assistant Professor of History at the University of Utah

Event Information

Free and open to the public; registration required. For more information, please visit the event webpage

Hosted by the American Philosophical Society