Rachel Walker to Speak on Black Americans and Science

The Humanities Center is happy to announce the seventh talk in its Fall 2022 Lecture Series on Ethnic Studies on Monday, Nov. 7, from 12:45 p.m. – 2 p.m. in the Greenberg Center for Judaic Studies. The talk is free and open to the university community.

In this talk, "Black Americans and the Sciences in the Nineteenth Century," Rachel Walker, associate professor of history (A&S), will focus on how Black Americans used science to advocate for racial justice in nineteenth-century America. Throughout her lecture, she will address larger issues regarding how Americans have been historically eager to empirically measure human worth, how the privileged and powerful can use science as a weapon to enforce discrimination, and how marginalized populations can use science as a weapon for justice. Ultimately, her talk wil grapple with the benefits and drawbacks of deploying science to promote equality.

The Ethnic Studies Lecture Series is possible due to the Cardin Grant, funding received from the A&S dean’s office. The series features talks by nine UHart professors in the humanities whose research and teaching focus on racialized ethnic groups in the U.S.

For more information on the series, contact Nicholas Ealy, director of the Humanities Center: ealy@hartford.edu