Pitt History Professor Discusses Legacy of the Slave Ship Dec. 11

PITTSBURGH—University of Pittsburgh Distinguished Professor of Atlantic History and award-winning author Marcus Rediker will deliver a free public lecture at noon Dec. 11 titled "The Legacy of the Slave Ship." The talk will be held at Pitt's Center on Race and Social Problems, School of Social Work Conference Center, 20th floor, Cathedral of Learning, 4200 Fifth Ave., Oakland. 

Rediker's lecture is part of the center's Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC Fall 2012 Speaker Series. Registration is not required; lunch will be provided. For more information, call 412-624-7382 or visit www.crsp.pitt.edu.

In his new book, The Amistad Rebellion: An Atlantic Odyssey of Slavery and Freedom(Viking-Penguin, 2012), Rediker draws on previously unknown evidence to sketch vivid portraits of the African slaves who in 1839 commandeered the Spanish schooner Amistad while at sea.  The rebels were eventually caught by the U.S. Navy, tried, and set free. Rediker's book honors their extraordinary historic achievement.

Rediker has written, cowritten, or edited six other books, including The Slave Ship: A Human History(Viking-Penguin, 2007), which won the 2008 George Washington Book Prize from the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, the C.V. Starr Center at Washington College, and Mount Vernon; the 2008 Merle Curti Award from the Organization of American Historians; and the James A. Rawley Prize from the American Historical Association.  

The Center on Race and Social Problems' annual Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC Speaker Series provides an opportunity for faculty, staff, students, and members of the community to engage in race-related discussions of mutual interest. 

###

12/5/12/mab/cjhm