How did Africans become ‘blacks’ in the Americas? ‘Becoming Free, Becoming Black’ (Cambridge University Press, 2020) tells the story of enslaved and free people of color who used the law to claim freedom and citizenship for themselves and their loved ones. Their communities challenged slaveholders’ efforts to make blackness synonymous with slavery. Looking closely at three slave societies – Cuba, Virginia, and Louisiana – Alejandro de la Fuente and Ariela J. Gross demonstrate that the law of freedom – not slavery – established the meaning of blackness in law.
In the event, Prof. Gross will present her book followed by a discussion by:
Prof. Ehud Toledano, Department of Middle East and African History, TAU
Dr. Ely Aaronson, Faculty of Law, University of Haifa
Dr. Yael Sterhell, History Department and the Department of English and American Studies, TAU
Moderator: Prof. Ron Harris, Faculty of Law, TAU
Registration: https://tinyurl.com/3p5j8fbt
1.6.21, 19:15-20:45