slavery
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Criminality and Queer History
Dr Liz Barnes discusses the difficulty of uncovering ordinary queer lives in the past. Please note that this post contains references to sexual violence and language that readers might find offensive. Criminality is ever-present for historians seeking to uncover queer… Continue reading
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Into the Archives: Listening to the Voice in the Archive, by Dr Beth Wilson
In April 2023, I travelled to Indiana University Bloomington to spend two weeks in the archives. I was funded by the Institute for Advanced Studies at Indiana University to undertake a Repository Research Fellowship at the Archives of Traditional Music… Continue reading
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#BHM ‘She hits massa with de hoe:’ The Weaponization of Plantation Labour Equipment by Enslaved Women in the Antebellum American South, by Erin Shearer
Three women and one man hoeing in field, (1899), Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division [https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/91785649/] This photograph, titled Three women and one man hoeing in a field, depicts the agricultural labour of unidentified African Americans in the late nineteenth century.… Continue reading
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Hidden Voices: Enslaved Women in the South Carolina Lowcountry
by Siân David, UROP student. I am a second-year History student who took part in the University of Reading Undergraduate Research Opportunities Programme (UROP) this summer. Over the last six weeks I have co-authored an online exhibition with Professor Emily… Continue reading
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Daughters of the Dust and the History of Gullah communities
by Prof. Emily West On Tuesday 17th October the University kindly invited me to introduce Reading Film Theatre’s showing of the 1991 film, Daughters of the Dust, written and directed by Julie Dash. Her father grew up in the area… Continue reading



