Teaching Slavery to Reluctant Listeners

TEACHING

By | Edward Baptist , New York Times Magazine

9/11/2015

Edward Baptist, associate professor of history, writes about his experience teaching college students about slavery, in this piece in the New York Times magazine.

"Twenty-four decades have passed since the Continental Congress deleted Thomas Jefferson’s criticisms of slavery from his first draft of the Declaration of Independence, and college students today arrive knowing little about the way America’s history of slavery has shaped their lives. Avoidance of the topic is deeply ingrained."

More News from A&S

Artist's illustration of the Pandora spacecraft with an exoplanet and two stars in the background — NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Conceptual Image Lab Artist’s concept of NASA’s Pandora mission, which will help scientists untangle the signals from exoplanets’ atmospheres – worlds beyond our solar system – and their stars.

Cornell astronomy researcher to head planetary science workforce survey

Astronomy 10/27/2026

Historian Cristina Florea wins prizes for book about Bukovina

History 10/27/2026

Francis Fukuyama ’74 named Freedom and Free Societies Professor

Freedom and Free Societies 10/27/2026

Provost Kavita Bala, with shoulder-length gray hair and a striped shirt, talking with a woman while a man and a woman talk in the background, all dressed in business casual attire — Simon Wheeler, Cornell University Cornell Provost Kavita Bala speaking with Kalaniyot Sabbatical Scholar Naomi Havron at the Kalaniyot reception Oct. 19. In the background, Kalaniyot Fellow Eden Eran Nagar speaks with Fellow Shachar Yerushalmi.

New program enhances Cornell-Israel academic collaboration

Global Collaboration 10/23/2026

View all news