UNC Wilmington slave conspiracy lecture explores racial, class politics of Antebellum South

The 2021 Sherman Emerging Scholar Lecture, “The Afterlife of Secrets: A Slave Conspiracy in Antebellum Charleston," will be delivered by Anne Kerth, an assistant professor in the W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. The free virtual event, open to the public is presented by the UNCW Department of History, and will be held at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 27. 

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Kerth teaches courses on early African American and African diasporic history; slavery and emancipation; and race, labor and gender. Her current book project examines the lives and labors of enslaved and free African American artisans in 19th century South Carolina. 

Kerth’s lecture will also examine the fears of elite white southerners in antebellum Charleston, S.C., of slave rebellion. She plans to highlight the 1822 case of Denmark Vesey, a free Black carpenter who city officials accused of planning an insurrection among enslaved and free Black Charlestonians. Vesey was arrested, tried in secret and hanged, along with 30 other alleged co-conspirators. 

In its 20th year, the Sherman Emerging Scholar Lecture Series was endowed by Phillip Sherman and Ann Sherman-Skiba and their spouses in honor of their parents, Virginia and Derrick Sherman. 

Also the Sherman Emerging Scholar Roundtable will be held virtually at 5 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 28 and will feature renowned scholars who will provide commentary on Kerth's work. Panelists include Karen Cook-Bell, Bowie State University; Hilary Green, University of Alabama; and Seth Rockman, Brown University. The event is open to the public, and all UNCW students and faculty are welcome to attend.