As part of its Conferencias Caribeñas 10 lecture series for January-May 2012, the Institute of Caribbean Studies of the University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras (UPR-RP), invites the academic community and the general public to the lecture “Discovering an Unpublished Eric Williams’ Manuscript: ‘The Blackest Thing in Slavery Was Not the Black Man’” by Dr. Brinsley Samaroo (Professor of History, University of the West Indies-St. Augustine’ Research Fellow, University of Trinidad and Tobago). Dr. Humberto García Muñíz (Institute of Caribbean Studies, UPR-RP) will serve as commentator.

The activity will be held on Wednesday, March 7, from 10:00am to 12:00 noon in Amphitheatre Manuel Maldonado Denis (CRA 108) of Carmen Rivera de Alvarado (CRA) Building, School of Social Sciences, UPR-RP.

Description: Dr. Eric Williams (1911-1981) has a long and distinguished career as a writer and a politician. Torn between politics and academics, he sought relief from the turbulent political world in his considerable collection of books. During the last decade of his life, he produced a final comprehensive volume in last testament, completed by 1973, focused on slavery, his lifelong commitment. He called this last tome “the blackest thing in slavery was not the black man,” meaning that there were other shadier dealings in slavery than the African slave. After completion of the manuscript he abandoned it, pending his inclusion of a section on Asian bonded labour worldwide. By 1976 he completed this self-imposed assignment, by writing two chapters under the heading “Cooliesm”. The presentation critically examines the two versions of the work, outlining the major themes and suggesting reasons for the non-publication of this valuable text. In this centenary year of Dr. Williams’ birth it is important to recognize his scholarship at a time when the interpretation of our Caribbean past was mainly through foreign lenses.

This lecture will be broadcast LIVE online through the following website: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/cc71***

Comments and suggestions on the presentation will be welcome at
iec-ics@upr.edu

For further information, you may call Dr. Humberto García Muñiz, Director, at (787) 764-0000, extension 4212, or write to iec@uprrp.edu

Also see the Institute of Caribbean Studies on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#%21/pages/Instituto-de-Estudios-del-Caribe-UPR/146169468754542?ref=sgm