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Film, Video 1619 and the Making of America

Event video

Transcript: TEXT

About this Item

Title

  • 1619 and the Making of America

Summary

  • The John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress convened a symposium that brought together respected scholars to explore the intricate encounters of Africans, Europeans and native people during this significant period in America's history. In 1619, a Dutch ship with about 20 Africans on board entered a port at the English colony of Jamestown, Virginia. This event is known as the arrival of the first recorded Africans to English North America. Their historic arrival, however, marked the beginning of a trend in colonial America, in which the people of Africa were taken from their motherland and consigned to lifelong slavery. From 1619 to 1650, during the life span of the first arriving Africans, racial discrimination emerged and chattel slavery would be codified into law. The symposium will ask questions related to the historical importance of these events in 1619. For example, who were the Africans who arrived in Virginia in 1619, where did they come from, what world did they bring with them? What emerged from Africans' engagement with indigenous Native American populations and their spiritual and cultural life ways, and what is the enduring legacy of this encounter today? The event also featured a display of treasures and historical items from the Library of Congress' collections related to the early Americas. The symposium was held in collaboration with the Middle Passage Project of the College of William & Mary, the Virginia Commonwealth's 2019 Commemoration and Norfolk State University.

Names

  • Library of Congress
  • John W. Kluge Center (Library of Congress), sponsoring body

Created / Published

  • Washington, D.C. : Library of Congress, 2018-02-23.

Headings

  • -  Biography, History
  • -  Culture, Performing Arts
  • -  Government, World Affairs

Notes

  • -  Classification: History: America.
  • -  Classification: Social Sciences.
  • -  Joanne M. Braxton, Lynette Lewis Allston, Cassandra Newby-Alexander, Robert Trent Vinson.
  • -  Recorded on 2018-02-23.
  • -  Researchers.
  • -  Teachers.
  • -  Joanne M. Braxton is 2015 David M. Larson Fellow in spirituality and health at the John W. Kluge Center and the director of the Middle Passage Project at the College of William & Mary.
  • -  Lynette Lewis Allston is chief and tribal council chair of the Nottoway Indian Tribe of Virginia, one of 11 officially recognized by the Commonwealth.
  • -  Cassandra Newby-Alexander is dean of the College of Liberal Arts and director of the Joseph Jenkins Roberts Center for African Diaspora Studies at Norfolk State University and co-chair of Virginia's 2019 Commemoration's First Africans to English North America committee.
  • -  Robert Trent Vinson is Frances L. and Edwin L. Cummings professor at the College of William & Mary.

Medium

  • 1 online resource

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • 2021692283

Online Format

  • video
  • image
  • online text

Additional Metadata Formats

Rights & Access

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Credit Line: Library of Congress

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Library Of Congress, and Sponsoring Body John W. Kluge Center. and the Making of America. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, -02-23, 2018. Video. https://www.loc.gov/item/2021692283/.

APA citation style:

Library Of Congress & John W. Kluge Center, S. B. (2018) and the Making of America. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, -02-23. [Video] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2021692283/.

MLA citation style:

Library Of Congress, and Sponsoring Body John W. Kluge Center. and the Making of America. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, -02-23, 2018. Video. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2021692283/>.