Uploaded September 2020 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
In this fourth installment of Wednesdays at the Center 2020-2021, we have rebroadcast the last participation of Dr. Franklin at a Wednesdays at the Center seminar in 2008, where he revisits the decades-long project around the biography of George Washington Williams. The event is introduced by professor Ranjana Khanna, director of the Franklin Humanities Institute at Duke.
George Washington Williams was an American Civil War soldier, Baptist minister, politician, lawyer, journalist, and writer who was particularly concerned with recording and preserving African-American history. In the late 1880s, Williams turned his interest to Europe and Africa to connect larger stories of global racism.
With his 1888 “History of the Negro Race in America,” George Washington Williams was the pioneer of African-American historiography.
The original video features John Hope Franklin in a conversation with Dr. Lea Fridman, Professor of English at Kingsborough Community College. The two scholars are introduced by the late Duke Professor Srinivas Aravamudan.
Read more about this episode: https://igs.duke.edu/news/george-washington-williams-neglected-american-hero
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Wednesdays at the Center is a topical weekly series in which scholars, artists, journalists, and others speak informally about their work in conversation with Duke students, staff, faculty, and community members. The series, which began in March 2006, typically welcomes audience members every week throughout the academic semesters over the lunch hour.
Due to covid-19 restrictions, the 2020-2021 edition of W@TC is online.
This year’s Wednesdays at the Center series is especially focused on anti-racism under the rubric:
JHF | Global Anti-Racism (histories of action).
Read the full press release about the series:
https://igs.duke.edu/series-wednesdays-center-series/jhf-global-anti-racism-histories-action-wednesdays-center-special
Read an article about the series on Duke Today:
https://today.duke.edu/2020/08/racism-through-lens-john-hope-franklin
In this fourth installment of Wednesdays at the Center 2020-2021, we have rebroadcast the last participation of Dr. Franklin at a Wednesdays at the Center seminar in 2008, where he revisits the decades-long project around the biography of George Washington Williams. The event is introduced by professor Ranjana Khanna, director of the Franklin Humanities Institute at Duke.
George Washington Williams was an American Civil War soldier, Baptist minister, politician, lawyer, journalist, and writer who was particularly concerned with recording and preserving African-American history. In the late 1880s, Williams turned his interest to Europe and Africa to connect larger stories of global racism.
With his 1888 “History of the Negro Race in America,” George Washington Williams was the pioneer of African-American historiography.
The original video features John Hope Franklin in a conversation with Dr. Lea Fridman, Professor of English at Kingsborough Community College. The two scholars are introduced by the late Duke Professor Srinivas Aravamudan.
Read more about this episode: https://igs.duke.edu/news/george-washington-williams-neglected-american-hero
———————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Wednesdays at the Center is a topical weekly series in which scholars, artists, journalists, and others speak informally about their work in conversation with Duke students, staff, faculty, and community members. The series, which began in March 2006, typically welcomes audience members every week throughout the academic semesters over the lunch hour.
Due to covid-19 restrictions, the 2020-2021 edition of W@TC is online.
This year’s Wednesdays at the Center series is especially focused on anti-racism under the rubric:
JHF | Global Anti-Racism (histories of action).
Read the full press release about the series:
https://igs.duke.edu/series-wednesdays-center-series/jhf-global-anti-racism-histories-action-wednesdays-center-special
Read an article about the series on Duke Today:
https://today.duke.edu/2020/08/racism-through-lens-john-hope-franklin
