CONFERENCE DETAILS

American chattel slavery was present in northern states prior to, and after the American Revolution. While gradual emancipation began after the Revolution, the complicity of northern states allowed the institution of enslavement to persist nationally. In some northern states, freedom was not guaranteed with people still being enslaved in New Jersey at the start of the Civil War. Northern economic institutions of commerce benefited greatly from slavery that flourished in southern states. 

Current American ideology purports the North’s role in the American Revolution, the Underground Railroad, and the Civil War as asylum for the enslaved–nothing could be further from the truth. Less is known about northern participation in chattel slavery that existed in the United States and the legacy of chattel slavery that continues to disenfranchise the African American population and contribute to systemic racism.

The 8th conference of the Slave Dwelling Project, the first in a northern state, will examine those roles as the nation prepares for the 250th Anniversary of the American Revolution in 2026. 

The 2024 Slave Dwelling Project Conference will take place October 3-5, 2024, at the Museum of the American Revolution in the heart of historic Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Conference Details will be released soon.

Proposals will be accepted between March 15 and April 22, 2024. Please visit https://bit.ly/SDPConf2024 to submit your proposal.

Major funding for the conference has been generously provided by the 1772 Foundation. We are also pleased to have the University of Pennsylvania’s McNeil Center for Early American Studies as a partner and sponsor.

Major funding for the conference has been generously provided by

The 2024 Slave Dwelling Project Conference is the 8th National Conference. Previous Conferences include the following:

• Savannah, Georgia Preserving Sacred Places (2014)
• North Charleston, South Carolina A History Denied: Preserving Tangible Evidences of Slave Dwellings (2015)
• Columbia, South Carolina Using Extant Slave Dwellings to Change the Narrative (2016)
• Charlottesville, Virginia (2017)
• Middle Tennessee State University Slavery, Resistance, and Community (2018)
• Virtual held with Clemson University Changing Narratives in Changing Times (2021)
• Charleston, SC  The Stono Rebellion and the Atlantic World (2022)