UMD to Host 2026 Universities Studying Slavery Conference

The University of Maryland Libraries will host the 2026 Universities Studying Slavery conference, “250 Years of Freedom and Unfreedom,” which will bring together scholars, descendants of enslaved people, students, archivists, librarians, artists and historians from Oct. 22-25 to examine the long histories of bondage, freedom-seeking, education, reparative memory and institutional accountability.

The Universities Studying Slavery (USS) consortium comprises over 100 academic institutions committed to researching and creating projects about human bondage, land dispossession and racism in their histories. The University of Maryland has been a member since 2020, when it started The 1856 Project, an ongoing exploration into the history of UMD’s relationship to slavery and the larger African American experience at the university and in the state of Maryland.

The conference keynote panel will feature journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones, whose landmark 1619 Project inspired the name of UMD’s 1856 Project; and Duke University Professor Tamika Nunley, whose 2021 award-winning book “At the Threshold of Liberty: Women, Slavery, and Shifting Identities in Washington, D.C.” highlighted how black women shaped the city and forged identities in the 19th century. 

Additional panels will feature scholars and speakers from UMD and the state of Maryland.

Registration is open to everyone in the UMD community as well as the general public, Through Oct. 2. For inquiries about the conference, please email 1856umdproject@umd.edu.