Shasha Seminar for Human Concerns: Histories of Race

“Histories of Race” was the topic for the ninth annual Shasha Seminar for Human Concerns, held on campus April 8–10. Endowed by James Shasha ’50, P’82, GP’14, this educational forum is for Wesleyan alumni, parents, and friends to explore issues of global concern in a seminar environment with a group of internationally renowned scholars.

Historian and artist Nell Irvin Painter, Hon. ’96, gave the keynote address, “What the History of White People Can Teach Us About Race in America.” Painter is the Edwards Professor of American History, Emerita, Princeton University, and an MFA student in painting at the Rhode Island School of Design. She is the author of seven books. Her most recent, The History of White People, was published in 2010. Additionally, Bobby Donaldson ’93, professor of African American studies at the University of South Carolina, was one of the eight speakers featured at the three-day event, which attracted around 90 participants. He discussed “An Outcast in Mine Own House: Black Intellectuals, White Supremacy and the American Color Line.”