History Center to host inaugural Martin Robison Delany Symposium
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The Senator John Heinz History Center will host the inaugural Martin Robison Delany Symposium on Friday, Aug. 26 and Saturday, Aug. 27.
The two-day academic conference, presented by the History Center’s African American Program, will feature panel discussions with scholars from across the nation who have studied Delany, including keynote speakers Tunde Adeleke, director of African American Studies at Iowa State University, and Richard J. Blackett, professor of history at Vanderbilt University.
As part of the symposium’s theme, “Before, During and Beyond the Civil War,” discussions will focus on new research and examine Delany’s literary publications, the emigration movement, politics, Black identity and more.
Delany was born in Charles Town, Va., to a free mother and an enslaved father and lived under racial oppression. But his activism started in Pittsburgh. He spent his formative years in the city, where his studies of enterprise, medicine and journalism would set him apart from other abolitionists. A free Black man in Pittsburgh, Delany became an outspoken, unapologetic voice against slavery and rallied others to support Black nationalism.
The symposium will begin with a welcome reception starting at 6 p.m. on Aug. 26, and feature panel discussions and keynote speakers on Aug. 27 from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. The presentations that day will be available for viewing virtually. Registration is available online at heinzhistorycenter.org.