Panel on Racism’s Legacy in Georgetown, Sept. 1
By • August 31, 2020 0 959
Dumbarton House, Mt. Zion/Female Union Band Historic Memorial Park, Georgetown Heritage and Tudor Place have organized “Reckoning the Legacy of Race and Racism in Georgetown,” an online panel discussion and Q&A on Tuesday, Sept. 1, from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Admission is free.
Much of Georgetown, once a very diverse neighborhood, was built by free and enslaved African Americans, as documented in the book and documentary “Black Georgetown Remembered.”
The academics, thought leaders and descendants who will participate in the panel are: Valerie Babb, Andrew Mellon Professor of Humanities at Emory University and creative director of the documentary; Ann Chinn, founder and executive director of the Middle Passage Ceremonies and Port Markers Project, a national nonprofit; George Derek Musgrove, associate professor of history and Africana studies at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County; Monica Roaché, a public-school administrator serving on D.C.’s Democratic State Committee; and Adam Rothman, professor of history at Georgetown University and principal curator of the Georgetown Slavery Archive.
Roaché will be joined by her neighbor, Neville Waters, whose African American family, like hers, has lived in Georgetown for generations. She encouraged Georgetown residents to register for the Sept. 1 panel. “It troubles me that the rich history of African Americans in Georgetown is often forgotten,” she said, adding that the speakers will “touch on many of the issues that happened in Georgetown in the past and are occurring now throughout the city.”
For details and to register, visit dumbartonhouse.org.
