Memory, Memorialization, and Public History: A Discussion with Tomiko Brown-Nagin, Dan Byers, Tracey Hucks, and Brenda Tindal

Join Harvard Radcliffe Institute Dean Tomiko Brown-Nagin for a discussion of memory, memorialization, and public history with distinguished Harvard experts Dan Byers, Tracey Hucks, and Brenda Tindal, presented as part of the Presidential Initiative on Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery.

Across the country, communities are immersed in debates about history and representation, what we remember and what we forget, and who we honor and memorialize. In California, such questions have roiled high school and university campuses and led to reevaluations of public and private spaces, memorials, and art installations. Meanwhile, the Report of the Presidential Committee on Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery (H&LS), released last April, calls upon Harvard to “recognize and honor the enslaved people whose labor facilitated the founding, growth, and evolution of Harvard through a permanent and imposing physical memorial.” Byers, cochair of the committee tasked with bringing this vision to life, along with fellow panelists Hucks and Tindal, will take Harvard’s work as a starting point—exploring why such a memorial is an important component of reckoning and repair—before engaging in a broader discussion of the national reckoning now underway. Brown-Nagin, who chaired the H&LS committee and served as lead author of its report, will moderate.

Panelists

Dan Byers, John R. and Barbara Robinson Family Director, Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts; lecturer on art, film, and visual studies, Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences; and cochair, Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery Memorial Project Committee

Tracey Hucks, Suzanne Young Murray Professor, Harvard Radcliffe Institute; and Victor S. Thomas Professor of Africana Religious Studies, Harvard Divinity School

Brenda Tindal, chief campus curator, Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences; and member, Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery Memorial Project Committee

Moderator

Tomiko Brown-Nagin, dean, Harvard Radcliffe Institute; Daniel P.S. Paul Professor of Constitutional Law, Harvard Law School; and professor of history, Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences

This program is presented as part of the Presidential Initiative on Harvard and the Legacy of Slavery, a University-wide effort anchored at Harvard Radcliffe Institute.