Event #3: Tanehisi Coates at the Virginia Museum of History and Culture

Earlier this month I had the amazing opportunity to attend the Legacies of Emancipation Event at the Virginia Museum of History and Culture Christy Coleman. Initially I expected the event to talk primarily about the legacies of emancipation, obviously, but I was amazed at the fluidity of conversation between Tanehisi Coates, a world renowned author, and Manisha Sinha, a lesser known but no-less credible historian from the University of Connecticut. Both guests talked at length about the myths surrounding the emancipation proclamation and how slavery never officially ended but instead morphed from a de jure to de facto practice and not just in the “Deep South”. After 30 minute or so of the panelists talking about their respective work, the moderator Chirsty Coleman (who contributed her own inspiring opinions and experiences as CEO of the American Civil War Museum) opened the floor to questions from the audience. A few of my SSIR classmates raced to the aisles to ask questions but I decided to sit and listen. I will never forget the question one woman asked. She began the question with a statement she had seen on some social media platform that said ‘slavery is better than what is happening in our country today’. The crowd gasped almost simultaneously and Tanehisi Coates sat there shaking his head for a good tow minutes. At first I was surprised and kind of disturbed that someone said that but at the same time I began to think things I have learned about in both my SSIR and LDST 101 that point out lots and lots and lots of things that are wrong with our country. The overall consensus from the panelists was that there is still a lot to do in terms of the legacies of emancipation and the remaining de facto institutionalized racism and the writing of history, but to say life for African Americans in 2019 is worse than life in the 1800’s is a massive claim. I think it is easy to go down a rabbit hole of finding things wrong with our country, especially with media exponentially infiltrating our lives more and more, but it is also important to reflect on all the progress and amazing people that have devoted their lives to making our country and our world a better place.