The 400th anniversary of the beginning of slavery in North America will be observed at UC Berkeley, not only this month — in August 1619, the first enslaved Africans arrived in Virginia by ship — but during the entire 2019-2020 school year, starting with a daylong symposium Friday, Aug. 30.
Berkeley’s commemoration is in the spirit of “The 400 Years of African American History Commission Act,” federal legislation signed last year. It acknowledged the impact of slavery in the United States and called for a national commission to commemorate the anniversary of the forced arrival of Africans in the English colonies in 1619.
“It’s important to show that the campus values the history and experiences of African Americans, and that there is a direct line between slavery, reconstruction and contemporary social and economic problems,” says Denise Herd, professor of public health, who is coordinating Berkeley’s events as associate director of the Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society. “We also want to signal that UC Berkeley is open to looking at and having engaged conversations on these issues, and that we have professors at work on them.”