The University of Liberia (UL) will host a three-day international historico-academic conference on the impact of slavery at the EJS Ministerial Complex in Congo Town beginning Monday, October 17 to Wednesday, October 19, 2022.

The Conference is jointly organized by the University of Liberia and the Princeton Theological Seminary, New Jersey, USA.

Under the theme “Colonization, Christianity and Commerce: The Afterlives of Slavery in the Trans-atlantic World”, the main agenda is to deliberate and provide answers to the many arguments, questions, and concerns that are being raised relative to the impact of slavery on former enslaved African Americans and the local population they accoutered following their return to the West Coast of Africa in the 18th Century.

Local and International panelists have been selected to make presentations at the three-day event.

The Visitor of the University of Liberia and President of the Republic of Liberia, H.E. Dr. George Manneh Weah is expected to officially open the conference.

Here is an excerpt from the official conference announcement which gives a gist of what this intellectual gathering is about and what it promises to offer:

The 400-year legacy of chattel slavery in the trans-Atlantic world, marked by the arrival of Africans in the Americas in the 16th century, and through its official abolition by the late 19th century, has produced reverberations, issues, problems, and consequences, which continue to require critical reflection and action. Former enslaved Africans in the Americas made the return voyage to West Africa from notably the late 18th century. The returnees settled mainly along the West Atlantic coast, from present-day Freetown, Sierra Leone and Monrovia, Liberia to other parts of West Africa. The impact of this return on the formerly enslaved and on the local populations they encountered raises a number of questions that this Monrovia conference seeks to address.

Please visit the conference website for more information.