By: Niki Wilkes The critical reception of the 1993 film Sankofa, especially from those with an academic interest in the field of slave narrative studies, has made it a significant member of slavery film canon. To teach a film study class on slavery without including Sankofa would be like teaching a nineteenth-century British Literature class […]

By Ramona Simmons A woman walks reminiscing through the halls of her home, stopping at a particular picture that the sun seemed to focus on. Beneath the touch of the sun’s rays glows a pale white face, artfully applied with the paints of womanhood: mascara, eyeshadow, gloss, and the list goes on. In stark contrast, […]

By Esther Wolfe In her book Testimony: Crisis of Witnessing in Literature, Psychoanalysis, and History, author Shoshana Felman describes the experience of teaching a class on Holocaust testimony. In the chapter, “Education and Crisis,” Felman details a key point of crisis that developed over the course of the class. As part of the class, students […]

By: Alex Selvey As I write this blog post, the 2022 World Cup in Qatar is being planned. Upon selection by the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) in December 2010, Qatar has been gearing up to host the event.  Nearly a decade before a single goal has been scored, the event has been littered […]

By: Jillian Simmons Marie Laveau was one of the few free black people and a powerful woman of high status in New Orleans during the nineteenth century when slavery was still legal. She holds a legacy that is still strong in today’s society for being the Voodoo Queen of New Orleans and also for the […]

By: Daniel Brount Recreating the trauma of slavery is challenging enough when writing about historical events, but it’s even more difficult with fantasy fiction. Marie Rutkoski takes on this challenge with her young adult fantasy novel The Winner’s Curse (2014). Though her work does not depict slavery perfectly, the fictional world’s slave system is successful […]

By: Sadie Brown In reviews of Django Unchained, the film is often criticized for its portrayal of the white savior figure. In his review of the film, Matthew Hughey tells readers why Django is not a revenge fantasy: Django is no antebellum-era Shaft.  King Schultz not only buys Django’s freedom, trains him in the art […]

By: Niki Wilkes The Harry Potter series was a giant exercise in universe building, and with seven books, J.K. Rowling had a lot of space to incorporate many of the more complicated aspects of society. One notable inclusion is the plight of house-elves, the wizarding world’s manifestation of slavery. This institution was hinted at as […]

By: Lauren Lutz Living in the United States, it is sometimes difficult to recognize that slavery exists outside of the history of the Americas. The trans-Atlantic chattel slave trade is what is taught about in school, what is seen in films and television, and what is recognized as a collective history within American culture. However, […]

We will be on a small hiatus until January, but promise to bring you more fascinating articles and news on modern slavery when we return. See you in 2015!