Thursday, November 1, 2007

Conference on Black Liberation and the Spirit of '57

"The battle has ended," declared Kwame Nkrumah on March 6, 1957. "And Ghana, your beloved country, is free forever."

The independence of Ghana in 1957 was a watershed event in Africa and also a moment of great importance for liberation movements elsewhere in the world, including the U.S. civil rights movement.

The Spirit of '57 is taken up this week at the FERNAND BRAUDEL CENTER for the Study of Economies, Historical Systems, and Civilizations, Binghamton University, State University of New York through a conference, BLACK LIBERATION AND THE SPIRIT OF '57.

The full program is here. Conference papers are available on-line:

Elizabeth Schmidt, Loyola College - "Black Liberation and the Spirit of '57: The Ghana-Guinea Legacy"

David J. Garrow, Homerton College, Cambridge University - "Foreshadowing the Future: 1957 and the U.S. Black Freedom Struggle"

Robert Darden, Baylor University - "Sam Cooke, 'You Send Me,' and the American Highway"

William G. Martin, Binghamton University - "1957 Whitewash: Africanist and Black Traditions in the Study of Africa"

Alex Dupuy, Wesleyan University, - "The Legacies of the Haitian Revolution: The Duvalier Regime and Color Politics in Haiti, 1957-1971"

Jacques Depelchin, Universidad Federal de Bahia, Salvador - "Thinking through African History: In the Spirit of 1957, Never Claiming Easy Victories (A. Cabral)"