History Fusco Lecture

10/11 – The Hidden History of the Underground Railroad

Please join us for the 18th Annual Fusco Distinguished Lecture with

Eric Foner
DeWitt Clinton Professor of History Columbia University

October 11, 2016, 4:00 PM
Dodd Center, Konover Auditorium

“Gateway to Freedom: The Hidden History of the Underground Railroad”
Based on his most recent book, Professor Foner’s lecture draws on newly discovered documents to paint a portrait of the underground railroad in the eastern United States, focusing especially on the role of New York City as a central hub. It explores the impact of the fugitive slave issue on national politics, and examines the motivations and actions of hundreds of slaves who managed to escape, and the underground railroad operatives who assisted them.

About Prof. Foner:
Eric Foner, DeWitt Clinton Professor of History, specializes in the Civil War and Reconstruction, slavery, and 19th-century America. He is one of only two persons to serve as President of the Organization of American Historians, American Historical Association, and Society of American Historians. His book, The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery won the Pulitzer, Bancroft, and Lincoln prizes for 2011. His latest book is Gateway to Freedom: The Hidden History of the Underground Railroad.
This lecture series is made possible by the Edmund J. Fusco, Sr. Fund for Excellence in History.

9/17 – 17th Annual Fusco Distinguished Lecture with Kenneth Pomeranz

Pomeranz Poster 8.5x11The Department of History’s 17th Annual Edmund J. Fusco, Sr. Distinguished Lecture in History will be given Thursday, September 17th by Professor Kenneth Pomeranz of the University of Chicago.

Please join us in the Wilbur Cross North Reading Room on 9/17 beginning at 4:00 PM for Prof. Pomeranz’s lecture: “Late Imperial Legacies: Land, Water, and Chinese Development in Long-Run Perspective.” The lecture is free and open to the public, with a reception and light refreshments to follow.

 

On 9/18 beginning at 10:00 AM, Prof. Pomeranz will give a morning workshop on a pre-circulated paper: “Domesticating the Frontier in Late Imperial China: Rethinking the Boundaries of Civilization, ca. 1680-1840.” Lunch will follow the paper and discussion.

About the speaker: Kenneth Pomeranz is a University Professor of History and in the College; he previously taught at the University of PCalifornia, Irvine. His work focuses mostly on China, though he is also very interested in comparative and world history. Most of his research is in social, economic, and environmental history, though he has also worked on state formation, imperialism, religion, gender, and other topics. His publications include The Great Divergence: China, Europe, and the Making of the Modern World Economy (2000), which won the John K. Fairbank Prize from the AHA, and shared the World History Association book prize; The Making of a Hinterland: State, Society and Economy in Inland North China, 1853‑1937 (1993), which also won the Fairbank Prize; The World that Trade Created (with Steven Topik, first edition 1999, 3rd edition 2012), and a collection of his essays, recently published in France. He has also edited or co-edited five books, and was one of the founding editors of the Journal of Global History. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the American Philosophical Society, American Council of Learned Societies, the Institute for Advanced Studies, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and other sources. His current projects include a history of Chinese political economy from the seventeenth century to the present, and a book called Why Is China So Big? which tries to explain, from various perspectives, how and why contemporary China’s huge land mass and population have wound up forming a single political unit.