When Movement Struggles Produce Progressive Thought
A Zoom Presentation by Sarah Lynn Patterson
Assistant Professor of English at the University of Massachusetts Amherst
Thursday, April 28, 2022 at 7 pm
"The National Colored Convention in Session at Washington, D. C." Sketched by Theo. R. Davis.
Harper’s Weekly, February 6, 1869. Howard University (mss_5785A) |
Over seven decades, from 1830 until 1900, tens of thousands of Black men and women from different walks of life attended meetings publicly advertised as “Colored Conventions.” At these political gatherings, free-born and formerly enslaved African Americans organized and strategized for racial justice. Providing a powerful structure and platform for Black organizing, more than 200 state and national Colored Conventions were held between 1830 and the 1890s; Massachusetts held five state conventions.
Professor Sarah Lynn Patterson will discuss the rise and the fall of the Colored Conventions movement as a way of understanding dialogues about progressive politics at the turn of the twentieth century. Professor Patterson will explore how conflict within the organization gave the oppressed their bearings to become torches for social reform. Sponsored by Whalen Insurance. See https://coloredconventions.org Register for the Zoom link. Sliding scale admission $5-25 |
Professor Patterson is a founder of the award-winning archive https://ColoredConventions.org and an editor and contributor to The Colored Conventions Movement (UNC Press, 2021). She is an Assistant Professor of English at the University of Massachusetts Amherst where she specializes in nineteenth-century reform movements, African American literature, and print discourses. Part of her work is devoted to humanist approaches to digital culture.