Symposium: Frederick Douglass and Benjamin Harrison Confront the Late 19th-Century Problems of Race and Expansion

Event Details

Indiana University Indianapolis’s Arts and Humanities Institute and the Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site present a two-day symposium that investigates the intertwined legacies of racism and imperialism in late-19th-century America. Scholars from across the country will present sessions on the symposium’s theme, spotlighting the lives and work of two towering figures: President Benjamin Harrison and civil rights leader Frederick Douglass.

Schedule

Friday, January 31, 2025
Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site
1230 N. Delaware St., Indianapolis

8:00–9:00 a.m.
Registration and Coffee

9:00–9:15 a.m.
Welcome
Charles Hyde, Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site; John R. Kaufman-McKivigan, Frederick Douglass Papers, Indiana University Indianapolis

9:15–10:15 a.m.
Keynote Address
Charles W. Calhoun, East Carolina University

10:30 a.m.–12:15 p.m.
Scholarly Roundtable 1: “Defending Civil Rights in the 1880s and 1890s”
Moderator: Charlene J. Fletcher, Butler University
Panelists: John R. Kaufman-McKivigan, Indiana University Indianapolis; Shawn Leigh Alexander, University of Kansas; Edward O. Frantz, University of Indianapolis

12:30–1:30 p.m.
Luncheon

1:45–3:30 p.m.
Scholarly Roundtable 2: “The U.S. and the Caribbean in the Harrison Era”
Panelists: Robert S. Levine, University of Maryland; Brandon R. Byrd, Vanderbilt University; Leslie M. Alexander, Rutgers University

3:45–4:30 p.m.
Concluding Plenary Discussion

To register, click on the RSVP button above.

For more information, contact the Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site at harrison@bhpsite.org or 317.631.1888.

This program received support from an Indiana Humanities Action Grant.