Different local histories of racial segregation in North America and the Caribbean shed light on the complexity of discriminations based on perceptions of racial difference. Our panelists explore the ways that historical efforts to separate populations based on race have at times produced rigid vocabularies (the “color line”) that are sometimes duplicated in the language used by historians. These projects, on the other hand, all shed light on the ways that lines of inclusion and exclusion might shift and evolve according to the pressures and demands of local context, suggesting that a more complicated politics may be at work.

Panelists include:

Martha A. Sandweiss, Professor of History, Princeton University;
Morgan Carlton, Ph.D. Student in History, University of Michigan;
Nora Krinitsky, Ph.D. Candidate in History, University of Michigan;
Amanda Reid, Ph.D. Student in History, University of Michigan;
Michael Witgen (chair), Associate Professor of History and American Culture, University of Michigan.

Free and open to the public. Lunch provided.

This event is part of the Friday Series of the Eisenberg Institute for Historical Studies. It is made possible by a generous contribution from Kenneth and Frances Aftel Eisenberg.