FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

On June 7, David Brion Davis, Sterling Professor of History Emeritus at Yale University, gave a lecture sponsored by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History at The Morgan Library and Museum in New York City. He spoke about his most recent book, Inhuman Bondage: The Rise and Fall of Slavery in the New World. The book explores the story of slavery and abolition across the western world – from the United States to Brazil to the Caribbean.

Davis remarked: “The crucial and final point I want to make is that a frank and honest effort to face up to the darkest side of our past, to understand the ways in which social evils evolve, should in no way lead to cynicism and despair, or to a repudiation of our heritage. The development of maturity means a capacity to deal with truth. And the more we recognize the limitations and failings of human beings, the more remarkable and even encouraging history can be.”

There is a long history between Davis and the Gilder Lehrman Institute. In July 1994, he taught the Institute’s first teacher seminar. Held at Yale, the two-week seminar, The Origins and Nature of New World Slavery, brought together twenty-nine educators from New York and New Jersey. He went on to teach the seminar in 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, and 2000.

“David was there at the beginning of the Gilder Lehrman Institute,” said Lesley Herrmann, the institute’s Executive Director. “He electrified the teachers who attended our seminar up at Yale and we haven’t looked back. Today, more than 6,000 teachers, museum educators, and National Park Service employees have participated in Gilder Lehrman teacher seminars across the United States and England.”

“It is truly amazing to consider how the Gilder Lehrman Institute has expanded since 1994 and how much it has enriched the teaching of American history on a national level,” said Davis.

Davis is also the Director Emeritus of the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition at Yale. Among his many books are The Problem of Slavery in Western Culture, The Problem of Slavery in the Age of Revolution, 1770-1823, Slavery and Human Progress, The Boisterous Sea of Liberty (with Steven Mintz), In the Image of God: Religion, Moral Values, and Our Heritage of Slavery, and most recently, Challenging the Boundaries of Slavery. His honors include the Pulitzer Prize, the Bancroft Prize, the National Book Award, the Albert J. Beveridge Award, and the Bruce Catton Prize for Lifetime Achievement.

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This lecture was recorded for future broadcast on C-SPAN 2’s BookTV.

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