Beyond Slavery
Explore the Conference
Explore the Conference by Subject
Slavery in Christian, Jewish, and Muslim Scripture and Religious Law
Christianity, Religion of the Slaveholders and the Enslaved
Sexual Assault and Exploitation Under U.S. Slavery and Jim Crow
How Slavery Has Shaped Our Understandings of Marriage and Friendship
Slavery, Violence, and the State
Beyond Slavery:
Overcoming Its Religious
& Sexual Legacy
Conference Videos
The Beyond Slavery conference focused on providing a forum for leading intellectuals, activists, and the public to discuss overcoming slavery's ongoing impact on sexuality. Presenters spoke on a wide range of topics, providing insight into traditional religious support for slavery; the sexual dynamics of slavery; how religious and other people can complete the abolition of slavery; and how best to move beyond racial stereotypes about sexuality.
Watch the videos below to learn more about the religious and sexual legacy of slavery.
Conference Highlights
Marty Wyngaarden Krauss,
Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs:
Welcome
What Is Slavery's Religious
and Sexual Legacy?
Bernadette J. Brooten:
Opening Address
What is Slavery's Religious and Sexual Legacy?
Adrienne Davis:
Miscegenation and Morality:
The Contemporary Politics and Racial Meanings of Marriage
Nancy Rawles:
Prayer for My Daughter
Dorothy Roberts:
The Paradox of Silence and Display:
Sexual Violation of Enslaved Women and Contemporary Contradictions in Black Female Sexuality
Roots Uprising Dance Company perform Toni Morrison's "Beloved"
Adam Jaffe
Dean of Arts and Sciences:
Welcome
How Has Slavery Shaped Our Understandings of Marriage and Friendship?
Gail Labovitz:
The Purchase of His Money: Slavery and the Ethics of Jewish Marriage
Kecia Ali:
Slavery and Sexual Ethics in Islam
Barbara Savage:
The Same-Sex Marriage Debate in the African American Churches: An Historical Perspective
Frances Smith Foster:
Call Me “Mrs.”: Motherhood, Marriage, and (Sexual) Morality in 19th-Century African America
Sexual Assault and Exploitation under Slavery and Jim Crow
Catherine Clinton:
Breaking the Silence: Sexual Hypocrisies from Thomas Jefferson to Strom Thurmond
Mia Bay:
In Search of Sally Hemings: Slavery and Sexual Agency in the History of the United States
Katani
Lullabies Sung by Enslaved Girls and Women in the United States
Christianity: Religion of the Slaveholders and the Enslaved
Jennifer Glancy:
Habits of Slavery in Early Christianity
Dwight Hopkins:
Slavery, Black Women, and Sexual Justice: A Theological Perspective
Sylvester Johnson:
Biblical Debates Over Slavery
Florence Ladd
Original Poetry
Mende Nazer
Antislavery Activist formerly Enslaved in the Sudan
Beyond Slavery: Creating the Conditions for Meaningful Consent
to Sexual Intimacy
Adrienne Davis:
Reparations for Slavery
Emilie Townes:
From Mammy to Welfare Queen: Images of Black Women in Public Policy Formation
Ellen Barry:
African American Women in U.S. Prisons:
The Modern State-Sanctioned Slavery System
Bernadette J. Brooten:
Sexual Ethics Untainted by Slaveholding Values
Small-Group Session Highlights
Sheila Briggs:
Gender, Slavery, and Technology:
The Shaping of the Early Christian Moral Imagination
Fay Botham:
Anti-Miscegenation Statutes:
Roman Catholic and Protestant Theologies of Marriage and Race
David Wright:
"She shall not go free as male slaves do":
The Female Debt-Slave in the Hebrew Bible
These videos were recorded on October 15-16, 2006 as part of the conference, "Beyond Slavery: Overcoming Its Religious and Sexual Legacy." It was sponsored by the Feminist Sexual Ethics Project in the Near Eastern and Judaic Studies Department at Brandeis University.