Join Dr. Cameron B. Strang to learn about the contributions of enslaved people to American exploration. 

About this Event:  

In the antebellum era, runaway slaves from throughout the US South ventured into distant lands with the intent of acquiring knowledge about new places and peoples that could advance their liberty. Although white Americans were often familiar with these lands, most enslaved blacks were either entirely uninformed about them or knew them only through rumor. Not all runaways engaged in exploring, but the efforts of the women and men who did were vital to undermining US slavery. By returning south to guide kin out of bondage, sharing details about routes and sympathizers that facilitated escape, and seeking connections with powerful northern allies, fugitive explorers not only enabled thousands of individuals to achieve freedom but helped foment the sectional crisis that led to Civil War and emancipation. 

About this Speaker:  

Cameron B. Strang is an associate professor at the University of Nevada, Reno, where he teaches a wide range of courses on early American history. He is the author of Frontiers of Science: Imperialism and Natural Knowledge in the Gulf South Borderlands, which was published in 2018 and won the Summerlee Book Prize and the Michael V.R. Thomason Book Award. His research has been supported by several institutions in and beyond New Orleans, including the Historic New Orleans Collection, Tulane University, the Smithsonian Institution, the Library of Congress, and the National Science Foundation. He is currently working on a new book project he’s calling Knowledge is Survival: A New History of American Exploration. 

This lecture is made possible with support from the New Orleans Recreation and Culture Fund.