BOLLI Lecture: Building America’s Slave Society in Real Time with Joshua Frank

“True equality cannot be left to the whims of an electorate—it is the predicate for
democracy and the vote, not their product.”—John A. Powell, “Dred Scott,” 400 Souls

In this presentation we will explore the meteoric rise of American chattel slavery from
1619-1861 through economic, historical, legal, political, religious and scientific lenses
provided in the book 400 Souls, edited by Ibram Kendi and Keisha Blain, and Birth of a
White Nation by Jacqueline Battalora. We will then apply these lenses to increase our
understanding of the current polarized historical moment.