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Conference: Slavery in New Netherland and the Dutch Atlantic World

@ Laurens Block, Novum Amsterodamum, 1650. Courtesy of the New York Historical Society

Fri, May 3 - Sat, May 4  2024

New York City

A two-day conference at the New York Historical Society and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.

On December 19, 2022, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte formally apologized for his country’s involvement in slavery and the slave trade.  Rutte noted that historical research grounded in archival documents will play an important role in the “Slavery Memorial Year,” declared by the Dutch government to run from July 1, 2023 through July 1, 2024.

Slavery in New Netherland and the Dutch Atlantic World, a two-day conference in New York City presented in partnership with the New Netherland Institute, will help extend the call for increased historical research on slavery in the United States.

Held at the New-York Historical Society on the Upper West Side and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem, it will convene academic scholars, researchers, public historians, archivists, and librarians from the Netherlands and the United States. Together, they will weigh the history and legacy of slavery, the slave trade, and colonialism in New Netherland, the Netherlands, and the Americas.

Location & Registration

  • Friday’s programming will take place at 515 Malcolm X Blvd in the Langston Hughes Auditorium at The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem. Schedule and registration here. 
  • Saturday’s programming will take place at 170 Central Park West in the Robert H. Smith Auditorium at the New-York Historical Society. Schedule and registration here.
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