Event
Global Discovery Series: The Rising Generation and the Long History of Emancipation
The Global Discovery Lecture Series lets you explore the world virtually, both far and near, with Penn faculty members and your fellow alumni community. Each live, interactive lecture features Penn professors sharing new and innovative research on a variety of topics. Participants will have the opportunity to ask in-depth questions and are sure to learn something new in each one hour session.
Sarah Gronningsater’s latest book, The Rising Generation: Gradual Abolition, Black Legal Culture, and the Making of National Freedom tells a new story about the long history of emancipation in the United States as it follows the cradle-to-grave experiences of a remarkable generation of black New Yorkers who were born into quasi-freedom after the American Revolution and reached adulthood on the eve of the Civil War. Sarah Gronningsater examines the role this generation played in advocating for equality before the law, excellent public education, and the end of slavery nationwide. In a broad sense, this generation helped shape important changes to the U.S. Constitution as well as groundbreaking federal civil rights legislation. The book is filled with inspiring stories about historical actors who strengthened American democracy during the formative early decades of our nation and its rebirth after the Civil War.
This event is co-sponsored by Penn Press, Penn Arts & Sciences, and Penn Spectrum Programs.
Featured Speaker
Sarah Gronningsater, an assistant professor of History at the University of Pennsylvania, is a scholar of the 18th and 19th century United States. She teaches courses on the history of American law, the American Revolution, the history of US baseball, and American democracy. She has particular research interests in the abolition of slavery in the North and in local histories of New York State.