An Evening with Black Art Historian Charmaine A. Nelson
When: Thursday, February 29th, 2024: 6:00pm MST
Where: University of Calgary, Craigie Hall 119, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
What: Public Lecture: “He ‘is supposed to have with him forged Certificates of his Freedom, and Passes’: Slavery, Mobility, and the Creolized Counter-Knowledge of Resistance”
Cost: Free
Contact: afstprog@ucalgary.ca
The African Studies program in collaboration the Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (OEDI), the Department of Art & Art History, & the Faculty of Arts Dean Office invites you to delve into the intricate web of Slavery, Mobility, and the Creolized Counter-Knowledge of Resistance as Dr. Charmaine Nelson explores a pivotal historical moment through the lens of an intriguing fugitive slave advertisement from the Quebec Gazette dated May 3, 1767.
The advertisement spotlights Andrew, a “Mulatto Negro Slave” born in Maryland, whose clean attire and proficiency in four languages belie his suspected possession of forged certificates and passes to freedom. Drawing on information about James Crofton, the white enslaver responsible for the notice, unveils the understudied landscape of Canadian Slavery, where enslaved black communities grappled with the direct control of their mobility by enslavers. Against this backdrop, Dr. Nelson extends the conceptualization of creolization, examining the transformative dynamics between Europeans, enslaved Africans, and colonized Indigenous peoples in the Americas. Join us for an exploration of the intersection of knowledge production, enslaved mobility, and the resilient resistance embedded in creolized narratives.
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