PrincetonUniversity
 

photo: Denise Applewhite

Symposium honors establishment of Amistad Commission

In honor of the passage of legislation establishing the New Jersey Amistad Commission, a symposium on "The African American Experience" took place on campus Wednesday. Following the conference in Alexander Hall, an official signing ceremony for the bill was held at the Newark Museum.

The all-volunteer commission has been established to develop teacher training programs and to promote educational and awareness projects regarding the enslavement of Africans and their descendants in America, its vestiges in recent and current culture, and African Americans' contributions to the development of this country.

Keynote speaker Colin Palmer, the Dodge Professor of History and a professor in Princeton's Program in African American Studies, noted that the commission will work to promote a more complete telling of the history of African Americans, from revising school textbooks to requiring more classroom discussions.

He also addressed the need to present the story of slavery in America within the context of other oppressed peoples in world history, so that no one group feels singled out, and to consider the resiliency of a people who maintained their culture despite tremendous hardships.

The symposium also included a panel discussion as well as comments by Gov. James McGreevey; Robert Durkee, Princeton vice president for public affairs; and Assemblyman William Payne, who introduced the original legislation in 1998.

The commission was named in honor of the group of enslaved Africans who were being transported to America on the Amistad sailing ship in 1839. Led by Joseph Cinque, the group gained their freedom after overthrowing the crew and eventually having their case successfully argued before the U.S. Supreme Court.