Conference trans-Atlantic slavery

The conference focuses on recent scholarly research on the history of Atlantic slavery, and on the ways in which museums and educational institutions address this past.   

This conference will be held in English.  

Registration for the conference is open until Sunday 2 June. 

During lunch, a session with poster presentations will take place. It is possible to submit a proposal for a poster presentation until 21 May 2024. Please read more information in the call for poster presentations

9.30 - 10.00 – Coffee and tea, registration  

  
10.00 - 10.30 – Opening remarks  

• Word of welcome | Michael Huijser – Het Scheepvaartmuseum 

• ‘Addressing Atlantic slavery: scholarly research and public engagement’ | Suze Zijlstra – Het Scheepvaartmuseum  

10.30 - 12.00 – Panel 1: Slavery in academic research and public history  

• ‘The Slavery in New Netherland and the Dutch Atlantic World Conference (May 2024): Conclusions and Future Directions’ | Deborah Hamer – New Netherland Institute  

• ‘The Connection between Heritage and Society: An Analysis of the Kòrsou/Curaçao Exhibition at the National Archives’ | Dyonna Benett – Visible Heritage, Connecting in Public and Museology 

• ‘Reflections on 'Our Colonial Inheritance' (from a curator's perspective)’ | Wendeline Flores – Wereldmuseum  

• 'The responsibility that comes with replica ships. Slavery, the Dutch East India Company and the Amsterdam' | Stefanie van Gemert – Het Scheepvaartmuseum 

12.00 - 13.00 - Lunch  

With poster presentations from students and early career researchers. See the call for poster presentations above. 

13.00 - 14.30 – Panel 2: Slavery at sea  

• ‘’I was their midwife’: Enslaved Women, Pregnancy, and Motherhood on Seventeenth-Century Slave Ship’ | Andrea Mosterman – University of New Orleans   

• 'The Amsterdam Private Slave Trade at Sea. New Data and New Perspectives, 1730-1779' | Jessica den Oudsten – Radboud University Nijmegen and Huygens Institute Amsterdam (research conducted with Ramona Negrón – Leiden University)  

14.30 - 15.00 – Coffee break  

15.00 - 16.30 – Panel 3: Aspects of slavery  

• ‘New Netherland's Vast American Diaspora: Echoes of a Colonial Legacy’ | Nicole Maskiell – Dartmouth College 

• ‘New Netherland and Indigenous Slavery in the Dutch Atlantic’ | Evan Haefeli – Texas A&M University  

• ‘Collaborative projects on recovering the history of slavery from colonial archives’ | Karwan Fatah-Black – KITLV-KNAW and Leiden University   

16.30 - 17.00 – Closing remarks  
  

17.00 - 18.00 – Drinks  

Following the closing remarks, conference visitors will have the opportunity to see a scale model of Dutch New Amsterdam (New York) in the Admiraliteitskamer of the museum. This scale model of 3 by 4 meters is based on scholarly historical and archaeological information, including the well-known Castello plan of 1660, and is a project of the New Holland Foundation. The scale model will be on display until 26 June.  

Following the day’s conference, the John Adams Institute and Het Scheepvaartmuseum will host a public evening program. The keynote of this evening will be given by Tiya Miles, Harvard historian and author of the critically acclaimed book All That She Carried. Miles’ work explores the intersections of African American, Native American and women’s histories in the context of place. More information on the evening program is to be found here. Please note that tickets for the evening program have to be purchased separately here.