By Khary Pestaina
On Tuesday September 17, 2024, an academic delegation from Howard University joined students and professors of La Universidad de Habana and others in Cuba, to inaugurate the first half of the two-week Eric Williams “Capitalism & Slavery” Symposium partially hosted there.
Howard University Senior Advisor for Strategic Initiatives, Professor and noted African scholar Dr. Paul Zeleza, inaugurated the event by delivering the keynote address at the conference commemorating the 80th Anniversary of the publication Capitalism & Slavery.
Over the next two days, a series of panels placing Williams’ seminal text in historical, political and economic contexts were offered by a number of prominent scholars from across the United States and Latin America. Also, and in the spirit of academic and cultural exchange, symposium participants were invited to study, tour and dine together at choice venues around Havana.
Attendees visited the Centro Fidel Castro Ruz- Havana’s newest museum, Castillo de San Severino, which formerly served as a Spanish castle & fort used to protect Havana from Atlantic invasion but also served as a prison up until 1970s and is now a UNESCO cultural site integrated into the project Places of Memory of “The Slave Route” in the Latin Caribbean. Symposium visitors were given special access to the site’s current development into a fully immersive and interpretive art museum.
Conference attendees also visited the Triunvirato sugar plantation & Museum, commemorating the site of Cuba’s largest slave rebellion and now also houses artifacts and materials from Cuba’s military intervention in Angola in the mid-1970s, nicknamed Operation Carlota in honor of one of the prominent leaders of the 1840s slave revolt.
The globally iconic and prominent South African leader Nelson Mandela, who survived over 27 years in prison under his country’s Apartheid regime, visited the location and paid tribute to Fidel Castro and Cuba’s active participation in helping to end the racially repressive apartheid regime in Southern Africa.
On the final day of the energetic, Cuban portion of the conference, partakers enjoyed sunset and some good vibes at the legendary Varadero Beach in Matanzas province.
The symposium continued in the United States, and was hosted at Howard University between Wednesday, September 25 th and Saturday, September 28th. Please see the attached Symposium brochure for the panels organized at Howard this week.
