Confronting the Racial Wealth Gap Series, held in academic year 2020-21, was sponsored by College of Liberal Arts/Responsible Governance & Sustainable Citizenship Project, Peter T. Paul College of Business & Economics, Carsey School of Public Policy. The series was organized by the departments of History; Classics, Humanities, and Italian Studies; English; Management; Sustainability Institute and Changemaker Collaborative.
Capitalism in the Lives of Enslaved People
A lecture by Justene Hill Edwards, assistant professor in the Corcoran Department of History at the University of Virginia. Work defined enslaved peoples’ lives. But in spare moments, enslaved laborers took advantage of opportunities to earn money and obtain goods for themselves. Enslaved women and men led vibrant economic lives, even trading with non-propertied whites and selling products to their enslavers. Did these pursuits represent a step towards freedom for the enslaved, or did they further shackle enslaved people by other means? Held May 5, 2021.
Black Americans’ Landholding and Economic Mobility after Emancipation
A lecture by Marianne Wanamaker, associate professor of economics at the University of Tennessee. The post-Civil War South was replete with limits on black economic mobility, and understanding our current inequality struggles requires understanding the origin of these differences in the Reconstruction South. Patterns of racial inequality from 1865 through today will be discussed. Could a different Reconstruction strategy have put the United States on an entirely different racial inequality trajectory? Featuring from UNH: Dev Dutta, associate professor, Department of Management; Harriet Fertik, associate professor, Department of Classics, Humanities and Italian Studies; and Tejun Celestin, junior in business administration: finance. Held February 11, 2021.
Persistent Racial Wealth Disparities: Drivers, Consequences and Policy
A presentation by Dr. Tatjana Meschede, associate director, Institute on Assets and Social Policy (IASP) at Brandeis University. Framed by qualitative and quantitative data points, this presentation will depict growing racial wealth disparities, mostly between white and Black households, highlight the major drivers of the racial wealth gap and introduce policy approaches that have the potential to reverse the course. Featuring UNH faculty discussants: Michael Ettlinger, director of the Carsey School of Public Policy; Ryan Gibson, postdoctoral associate, Department of Sociology; and Sean Moore, professor, Department of English. Held December 09, 2020.
African Americans & Haiti: An International Perspective on Socioeconomic Inequality & Racial Justice
A lecture by Brandon R. Byrd, assistant professor of History at Vanderbilt University. African Americans have long understood racial inequality through an international lens. In this discussion, Prof. Brandon R. Byrd suggests how that history of Black internationalism, particularly African Americans’ historical relationship with Haiti, can inform our thinking about and response to racial and socioeconomic justice today. Held October 15, 2020.
Video is not available for this lecture.