(Posted May 24, 2010)

HUNTINGDON, Pa. -- Judy Katz, associate professor of English at Juniata College, has been selected to participate in a seminar on Slave Narratives being offered by the Council of Independent Colleges, the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, and The United Negro College Fund.

Katz is on of 28 participants selected (from more than 100 highly competitive nominations) for the seminar, to be held June 13-16 at the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.

"This seminar provides a great opportunity for participating faculty members to gain a better understanding of the experience of emancipation and the 19th century events that were so important in shaping our world today."

Richard Ekman, president, CIC

In announcing the selection of participants, CIC President Richard Ekman said, "This seminar provides a great opportunity for participating faculty members to gain a better understanding of the experience of emancipation and the 19th century events that were so important in shaping our world today."

The seminar will examine the place of slavery and abolition in American history and culture, and participants will discuss the genre of slave narratives through some exemplary texts including biographies and autobiographies. Autobiographies by former slaves were first published in the late 18th century and early 19th centuries and grew in scale as new texts were promoted and printed by the early abolitionist movement in Britain and the United States.

Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.