The Roberson Project on Slavery, Race, and Reconciliation at the University of the South is a six-year initiative investigating the university’s historical entanglements with slavery and slavery’s legacies. Our Project’s name memorializes the late Professor of History, Houston Bryan Roberson, who was the first tenured African American faculty member at Sewanee and the first to make African American history and culture the focus of their teaching and scholarship. The Roberson Project seeks to honor his inspiring legacies at Sewanee: the devotion to rigorous teaching, the pursuit of scholarship, the dedication to social justice, and the personal example of high moral character. In doing so, the Roberson Project seeks to help Sewanee confront our history in order to seek a more just and equitable future for our broad and diverse community. Please visit our new website at: https://robersonproject.sewanee.edu
The Roberson Project and the Center for Southern Studies hosted a three-part colloquium of scholars, writers, musicians, and activists whose work engages the significance of unfree labor in the development of the U.S. South after emancipation. Dr. Earl Lewis delivered the keynote address and Dr. Kevin Gannon led a teaching workshop.
The Roberson Project on Slavery, Race, and Reconciliation began its journey Five Years ago on July 1, 2017. Listen to our staff comment on what the Roberson Project means to them. Video features Director Woody Register and Assistant Director Tiffany Momon among other RP team members.
The research team of the Roberson Project on Slavery, Race, and Reconciliation just produced a new map database entitled Founding Funders to assess the depth and breadth of investments in enslaved human property by the nearly 300 persons who assembled the financial foundation of the University of the South between 1856 and 1865 on November 1, 2022.
Compiled, in part, to give historical context to the Sept. 8 statement by the Board of Regents, this research summary provides an overview on the history of slavery and race at the University of the South and in the community of Sewanee.
Find out more information about the Roberson Project's current and past projects and programs.
Roberson Project Summer Interns
Read articles about the Roberson Project and our team.
Find out more information about upcoming and past events sponsored by the Roberson Project.
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The title of our blog, "Meridiana” which is Latin for “of the South” – is drawn from the formal name that appears on diplomas awarded at Sewanee: Universitas Meridiana. Adopting this prepositional phrase for our online publication expresses our position that this investigation and the understanding that we derive from it are essential in determining what it means to be a leading university of and for the twenty-first century South.
On our blog, you can find our research and our new In Their Own Words series.
DIRECTOR OF THE ROBERSON PROJECT
The founding Director of the Roberson Project since 2017, Woody Register (C’80) has been teaching courses at Sewanee on nineteenth- and twentieth-century American society and culture, gender, and slavery’s role in the development of American institutions and society for nearly thirty years. As a colleague, collaborator, and friend for over twenty years, Houston Bryan Roberson and his impact as a teacher, scholar, and citizen continue to inspire and guide Woody’s work. Woody’s involvement with the Roberson project was sparked first by his own research into Sewanee’s particular history in connection with slavery, and was then influenced by the international movement among colleges and universities to study the history and impact of their institution’s indebtedness to slavery — and slavery’s indebtedness to their institutions. Woody has been a newspaper reporter and editor, has a doctorate in history from Brown University, and presently is the Francis S. Houghteling Professor of American History. He has published extensively on American cultural history, including an essay, “Makers of Sewanee,” in the current issue of the The Sewanee Review.
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF HISTORY
SENIOR RESEARCH ASSOCIATE & PROGRAM COORDINATOR
Andrew Maginn is a transnational historian whose research focuses on the legacies of slavery and emancipation. Dr. Maginn has taught at several colleges and universities, offering courses in the African Diaspora, World, American as well as Latin American and Caribbean history within a multiplicity of disciplines. His recently completed dissertation, “First Families of Haiti in the Trans-Atlantic World, 1791-1880” included genealogical research of enslaved and free individuals of color in the United States, France, and the United Kingdom. The impact of this research was recognized by several grants, fellowships, and publications.
While enrolled in his doctoral program at Howard University, Dr. Maginn encountered several colleges and universities struggling to understand their connection to the legacies of slavery. This exciting blend of contemporary politics, history, and higher education has drawn Dr. Maginn to the Roberson Project. Dr. Maginn currently supports the Roberson Project as it makes the University of the South a leader in this national conversation through archival research, participation in digital humanities projects, and educational programming.
PROGRAM MANAGER, LEGACIES OF AMERICAN SLAVERY INITIATIVE
Kathy Solomon joined the team in July 2021 to help manage the numbers programs and initiatives of the Roberson Project, specifically under the Legacies of American Slavery Initiative. She brings a background in business management and financial administration, and she is happiest when she is creating order. You can see from our main page that we have a full schedules of programs to keep our team fully engaged: https://new.sewanee.edu/roberson-project/
RESEARCH ASSOCIATE
October Kamara is a public history graduate student at Middle Tennessee State University. She is concentrating on Museum Management and is specifically interested in digital humanities and museum education. On top of working for the Roberson Project, October is a graduate researcher for the Center for Historic Preservation Teaching with Primary Resources. Her research interests include black activism in the South, black queer history, and black power movements in the South.
STUDENT RESEARCH ASSISTANT
STUDENT RESEARCH ASSISTANT
Silas McClung is a sophomore from Crossville, Tennessee. He intends to major in Politics and minor in Business. He is an active member of Greek life, tutors for the Center for Speaking and Listening, and is also a Student Research Fellow for the “Go Tell It On the Mountain” Project, a collaborative faculty/student study of speaking and listening on the mountain.
Read the Roberson Project Mission, Vision, and Objectives.
You can support the work of the Roberson Project by reading our research, attending our on-campus events, following us on social media, and most importantly, sharing our work more widely. Students at Sewanee can join our new Roberson Project Student Group. We welcome your input and involvement so be in touch!
Follow our Sewanee Black History Facebook page to stay up to date with our digitization initiatives.
Read about Professor Roberson whose legacy inspires our work!
The University of the South
735 University Ave
Sewanee, TN 37383
robersonproject@sewanee.edu
