Slate Academy: The History of American Slavery

In Episode 9, the finale episode of our inaugural, members-only  Slate Academy , the History of American Slavery, hosts Rebecca Onion and Jamelle Bouie discuss emancipation. They examine how emancipation was more a process than an overnight change, and they compare the different ways it was enacted in the South and throughout the United States. They also discuss how people sought to rebuild their lives and reunite their families once they had achieved freedom from slavery. They begin the episode by remembering the life of Rose Herera (1835–unknown). Our guests in Episode 9: Adam Rothman  is associate professor of history at Georgetown University.  .

“How do we get Americans to talk honestly about slavery?” That question was the subject of a sold-out Sept. 17, 2015 symposium organized by Slate and George Washington University. It was a capstone event for the History of American Slavery, the inaugural  Slate Academy  hosted by history writer Rebecca Onion and chief political correspondent Jamelle Bouie. Featured speakers: - Jamelle Bouie, chief political correspondent, Slate.com - Rebecca Onion, history writer, Slate.com - LeVar Burton, actor, director, educator. (

In Episode 8 of The History of American Slavery, a  Slate Academy , hosts Rebecca Onion and Jamelle Bouie discuss the small minority of people who escaped slavery during the 1850s and 1860s and the people who helped them along the way. They examine our evolving and sometimes selective historical memory of the Underground Railroad. They also explore the legal environment that confronted fugitives and their helpers and how it changed after the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. Jamelle and Rebecca begin the episode by looking at the life of John Parker (1827–1900). Our guests in Episode 8: Steven Lubet  is Williams memorial professor of law and director of the Bartlit Center for Trial Strategy at Northwestern University School of Law.   is administered by National Medical Fellowships and awarded to female medical students who are descendants of American slaves.

In Episode 7 of the History of American Slavery, a  Slate Academy , hosts Rebecca Onion and Jamelle Bouie explore what modern medicine gained from slavery, and how slaveholders sought to legitimize their their ideology through science. They discuss how doctors such as J. Marion Sims used human experimentation on enslaved subjects to help advance the practice of medicine. And they explore how scientific racism, as practiced by doctors such as Samuel Cartwright, was used to justify slaveholder practices. Jamelle and Rebecca begin their discussion by looking at the life of Anarcha (1828?-unknown), an enslaved women who endured more than 34 experimental surgeries that culminated in a path-breaking medical discovery. Our guests in Episode 7: Deirdre Cooper Owens , an  .

In Episode 6 of The History of American Slavery, a Slate Academy, hosts Rebecca Onion and Jamelle Bouie explore the rise of the antebellum cotton economy in the early decades of the 19th century. They discuss how the growth of the cotton industry transformed the American system of slavery and the lives of enslaved people. And they discuss slavery’s relationship with the development of modern American capitalism. They begin the episode by discussing the life of Charles Ball, who wrote about his experience working on a cotton plantation in his autobiography,  .