Dal and King's to Cohost Universities Studying Slavery Conference

The common threads between Dalhousie University and the University of King’s College are multitude. In recent years, those threads have included pointed explorations of the past: scholarly inquiries to examine historical intersections with the legacies of slavery.

The Report of the Lord Dalhousie Scholarly Panel on Slavery and Race, released in 2019, and King’s and Slavery: a Scholarly Inquiry, published a year later, both represented significant milestones in the universities’ journeys to understand their history and build stronger future for individuals of African descent.

As part of the work during and following their respective inquiries, both universities joined the Universities Studying Slavery (USS) organization. Based out of the University of Virginia and comprising more than 60 universities, in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, USS is dedicated to organizing multiinstitutional collaboration on research into historical and contemporary issues dealing with race and inequality in higher education and university communities.

This fall, Dalhousie and King’s, in partnership with the Black Cultural Centre for Nova Scotia, will host the 2023 USS Conference—the first USS gathering to be held outside of the United States.

The event will explore the theme, “Slavery, Reparations and Education: African Nova Scotia, Canada and Beyond.” Scheduled to take place in Halifax from October 18-21, the conference will focus on the multiple ways in which anti-Black discrimination in and beyond universities is rooted in historical enslavement and the perpetuation of the racist ideologies that fueled it, while also examining the multigenerational harms and disadvantages that are its legacy. Furthermore, the conference will highlight the perseverance, contributions, and triumphs of Black people and communities, in Canada, Nova Scotia, and around the “Black Atlantic” world.

The conference will feature seven keynote addresses by individuals with local, national, and international reach and impact. They include:

1. Dr. John Mahama, former president of Ghana

2. Sir Hilary Beckles, vicechancellor of the University of the West Indies and Chairman of the CARICOM Reparations Commission

3. David Comissiong, Barbadian lawyer, former senator, and founder of the Clement Payne Movement

4. Dr. Afua Cooper, distinguished historian and poet, and Killam Research Chair in Black and African Diaspora Studies at Dalhousie University

5. Dr. George Elliott Clarke, renowned African Nova Scotian poet and E.J. Pratt Professor of Canadian Literature at the University of Toronto

6. Dr. Sylvia D. Hamilton renowned African Nova Scotian filmmaker, writer, journalist, and artist, and University of King’s College Inglis Professor

7. Dr. Harvey Amani Whitfield, leading historian of Black history and slavery in Colonial Canada and a professor in Black North American History at the University of Calgary.

As the first USS Conference to be held in Nova Scotia— home of African Nova Scotian communities with 400 years of history—community connections will be a pivotal part of the event, including activities hosted at the Black Cultural Centre for Nova Scotia in Cherry Brook.—Ryan McNutt

More information on the USS CONFERENCE can be found at ussconference.ca