Mary was always at home. Married was helping her mother. And then when mary got married, elizabeth was not, well, for a while when the parents were all right, elizabeth left and live with john and abigail, but when the parents got sick which was quite sync up and then she had to be home taking care of them. And the grandmother was gone by then. [inaudible] going to believe this but best time to start to set a new example for the youth to follow speak with all, what time in life . Yes. Thats interesting. You mean what time in childhood . I would say childhood. I think all the different stages matter. I mean, with my knowledge of children, and you make one impact before they are six or 10 or whatever, and then when theyre in adolescents they think we have forgotten everything and later on you were surprised that they seem to remember some. I think they did the best that they could as parents. I think they were strong parents, and some of them turned out well and some of them didnt. And so much had to do with a lot and with the era with luck. [applause] thank you. Thank you so much for coming. That was diane jacobs on booktv. For more information visit the authors website, dianejacobsauthor. Com. Spend next on tv, Pulitzer Prizewinning historian David Brion Davis completes his three volume history of slavery in the west. In the final volume published 30 years after the second installment, the author focuses on emancipation from the importance of the haitian revolution, to the American Civil War and its aftermath. This is about one hour. Welcome. Im mark weitzman, and im half of the center, and new york office of like to welcome you all here for i think what is a moment is in many ways landmark event for us, and evening honoring the launch of a very good new book. A couple of dollars was an brief introduction and then we will start the program can turn the program over to the speakers were up there. Like to begin by giving my thanks to my colleague and friend who was the person who arranged for this event that brought dr. Davis and the such together. We all herald a great deal. I want to thank michelle summers from the publishers, as well as leslie from the Gilder Lehrman institute for their help and cooperation and arranging this evening. I also would like to very much welcome and recognize members of the board of trustees who have taken the time to cover this evening as well. Thank you for that. A few brief words of introduction from my part. One of the reasons that i was so glad id jump at this opportunity was because the work of professor davis been such a great deal to us. Personally my own work has drawn upon and benefit from some of professor davis writings, years ago when i was researching and comparing antisemitism and anticatholicism online. To get a sense of the breadth of professor davis work, that didnt even for slavery which is what we here to talk about tonight, and yet was landmark in its own right on those areas as well. And we are greatly indebted to professor davidson scourge in confronting antisemitism, particularly again a few decades ago when it was a ton of great controversy and great tension, yet he stood up and very forthright to condemn what need to be condemned and did it in a scholarly and dispassionate manner that left a great impression. In many ways it is a natural fit for a suitable to host this event. The center is named after survivor of the holocaust, a person who after liberation devoted his life to both bringing justice to the victims of the holocaust and becoming a human rights champion and a broad sense trying to ensure that the lessons of that big would never be forgotten and that no group, jews or others, whatever suffer such a fate again. And in a sense theres a great affinity between that and between the trouble is the work of professor davis. For example, it doesnt take more than a cursory glance at our own world to the short of the idea we have fallen despite the defeat of the not see genocide and despite common sense of the depression and the genocides are content to present underworld even today. Professor david minds as an epilogue of his book that in slavery still exists and underserved conditions might even be restored on a larger scale in certain areas in todays world. So the affinity runs deeper. Than once work was shaped by defensive were too. As he himself has written and stated that quote living in the shadows of the holocaust amid the rubble and ruins of the worlds greatest war with weights tied to embark his group and as historic as a gold of unearthing the truth long break the need for superficial types of propaganda, the presentation a perspective of an overall comprehensive view of what people did and thought and why they did it. And, finally, to make people stop and think before blindly following some bigoted group to make the world safer. This was written in 1936 and clothing i guess has changed is that the list of those who endanger democracy has probably grown longer and wider. As i read the book i was drawn to reconsidering the relationships both google news and differences between the holocaust and the system of slavery that professor davis explored. Some recent examples that came to mind was the role of the victim often ignored in the first wave of studies, in do with the holocaust. Landmark study, the destruction of european jews, based only with the nazi perception of documentation, the witnesses from the nazi side and fully ignored the role and impact on the victims of the holocaust itself, which leads to consideration of a perspective included need and cost of collaboration which is also clinton five by the that professor davis twice brings a new book about quote selfpreservation at minimal cost of degradation and loss of selfrespect. That in turn is a question which raised in a literature of the holocaust and how to survive . Which the impact of survivor . What is the cost of survivor . The new film the last of the unjust. These issues are of course based upon the application of terms of dehumanization and again and mobilization which professor davis uses very much in his exploration and their intro session of the impact that they have on the community which go a long way to shaping the discourse of pressure but even the role of states, geography which is reflected in current literature in the holocaust as in timothy such important book loveland or the recent words of locating and marking chilling sights of Eastern Europe and the baltic whether nazis slaughtered more victims than a murdered in all death camps. That are of course differences as well. One such distinction is that once labeled ultimate and economic adventure had Great Success in the holocaust and Economic Needs were to the pursuit of genocide, rendering any accommodation by the jewish population, but fundamentally it comes down to the idea that there are evils in the past that we must learn from in order for us to have a practice future. Or ask i will conclude, history matters. And i would add it also helps as a Master Teacher and alumina, educate and inspire us to grow for our own wrote for our own answers as a professor davis has done for so many years. So tonight were to disobey the launch of the third and final volume of the trilogy of slavery, the problem of slavery in the age of emancipation. With two distinguished speakers who will join professor davis and conversation about the book and anything else they want to talk about. Following that your all invited downstairs or a light reception and book signing, and you can wanwanted to our individual and interaction museum which a 10 studio albeit in a much different manner with some of the same issues that professor davis has worked upon. Before introduced the speakers i would just ask anyone to silence their cell phone or whatever electronic type you are holding on. To remind you can we are being filmed by cspan. There will be time for questions afterwards, and now i would like to introduce our speakers. Im going to introduce two former students of professor davis who are now master scholars and researchers in their own right, they in turn will introduce their teacher as they go along with event. So sitting closest to me is William Casey king to earn his ph. D from Yale University and was honored to be named a former bond trader who has comee back to the candidates by by daytoday for the post a prizewinning the problem of slavery in the age of emancipation. His work includes the pbs document the life and work of the africanamerican, coproduced the film, an award once childrens book, a play he wrote, and a book on the history of ambition published last year by Joe University press. He has written for the washing post and wall street journal and new york times. Kind of film at harvard and director executive. He serves as executive director of analytical science at yale schooschool of medicine publicsl help it is named recipient as part of the White House Big Data Research and Development Institute and combat terrorism by monolog the department of treasury. John stauffer is professor of english american studies and africanamerican studies at harvard university. He writes on athletic, protest moves and photography. Is often an edit of 11 books, 60 articles. His most recent book is the battle of the republic. His essays have appeared in times, while sure to come new times, Washington Post and often does, and numerous scholarly journals books. He has been a consultant to hollywood films, the janco. He appeared in a documentary and was advisor for the film. With that background, those background, i think we are all looking for two and clothing exciting discussion and the floor is yours. [applause] so our goal is that the conversation with david and your all part of the conversation. But before we launched into this formal discussion, we often have dinner together, please wont you we will meet at a cafe in new haven. John bolton down and we were sure a couple dozen oysters and have a conversation about everything and anything. We thought on the occasion of the completion of the trilogy it would be a nice sort of spirit to attempt. May be so oysters might help and a bottle of wine but im going to turn the floor over to John Stauffer who is my friend and mentor. We will hopefully allow david to get a summer not only of the problem us the problem of slavery in the age of emancipation and others trilogy briefly and his public life. Ill start with a very brief summary. As most of you know, david is a sterling Professor Emeritus at Yale University. He has won virtually every award that a historian can win, including the Pulitzer Prize for National Book award and the present american association. I could go on and on but i wanted, we wanted to start by having david elucidate a bit about his background that led to this trilogy. And introductory remarks, one of things that was highlighted was that he became interested in slavery in the shadow of the holocaust as a world war ii, or postworld war ii soldier. Im wondering if would be willing to elaborate on the background that led you to become interested in slavery and abolition at a time in which the subject was, in large part, unexplored, unwritten. There were a few books but you go to a large degree, helped to create the feel of slavery and abolition. As you note in the preface of the problem of slavery in the age of emancipation, kind of stamp was an important influence but in terms of abolition studies, it was what a departure from your first book which was the study of homicide in american literature. He publishes this book, he was careful to remind me that he did his dissertation in three and half years. I think thats mind on and on. And all of a sudden he turns to slavery and antislavery at a time when the nation is being torn apart by racial strife and tension. Im just asking by how somebody would make this kind of paradigm shift, or shifts in interest in activity . Let me start by simply saying my interest in homicide did extend over into slavery in the sense that i wasnt much interested in the history of ideas and what was called intellectual history. I was hired at cornell in 1955 to teach english, and history which was already beginning, speaking as an only this, brand of study. We had this vast flood of social history from bottom up taking over the whole field of history. And i was interested in finding concrete subjects, but homicides or universal subjects like, side or slavery as the most extreme form of domination. At the rate of looking at changes. And moral perception. Of these forms of behavior. So there was that connection, but as i mentioned briefly in the introduction, in the 1930s and early 40s my family traveled all over the country. We live coasttocoast, and i went to many different schools, five high schools in four years but i never was in a classroom with africanamericans. In other words, even though i was in the north, it was a segregated society. But that all ended when i was drafted into the army in 1945, and was trained for the invasion of japan. And i was down in georgia for the first time in the south where i saw jim crow america at its worst. And when i was on, suddenly the war with japan ended i was on a troop ship bound for germany, and was ordered to go down into the hold of the ship to keep the giga boost, they said, from family. I had no idea there were any blacks o on the ship but its le a slave ship down below, and this went on until i became Security Policeman in germany. And was called out where there were bloody shootout conflict between white and black american soldiers. Part because there were many german girls who love to date black soldiers, and there were many white soldiers who were outraged by this. So my experience in germany where i spent a year in 4546 was an experience that for the first time introduced me to, there are racial issues of the country in a very dramatic way. And there also was the holocaust of course. I was in the shadow of that and some many survivors, we protect them going through the streets, were called out to protect truckload after truckload of survivors. So i was opened up to a lot of different new things as a very young soldier. And as i then went on with a g. I. Bill to go to college, i was very much interested in the racial issue, even though i failed to take part of the actual civil rights movement. I read a good many works on race, and when i was in graduate school at harvard, kenneth m. Stancu is a very distinguished historian from berkeley came for a semester to teach at harvard. And he lived near my apartment and we became good friends. He was about to publish the first truly great book on slavery in the American South that was not based on the assumption that whites were it was a very serious book, and suddenly talking with stamp made me realize in my classes at harvard and dartmouth as an undergraduate that didnt harbor anything but slavery alone abolitionism. This opened up the whole new prospect while i was working on homicide. It opened up the prospect of slavery and antislavery infields i would move on to a bit later. So when i fortunately in 1955 got an assistant professorship at cornell, to teach american history, i began bringing material on slavery into that. And when i was super lucky to get a fellowship in 58 and went off to britain, because the head of the Guggenheim Group thought i should really go abroad given my interests. I immersed myself in london and, well, what became the problem of slavery in western culture. Was going to be just a background chapter on the back of slavery became a whole book. And so i was launched that way on the first of three volumes spent did you imagine youd one day write a trilogy . I did. When you finish and you thought, im just going, the first chapter, was supposed in the first chapter, going to make this book and write to others . I anticipated i would be writing memorial spent did you imagine three books of . Im not sure exactly but i think is probably three but im not positive. In the wake of the narrative, david spiritual writers. His mom and dad. His father wrote peoples first film after the war speak was yes, clark gable. Was there a time when you thought id really like to be a writer as well of . All, i very much was interested in writing, yes. Though i actually, when i was an undergraduate i took some summer classes at Columbia University in french language and writing fiction, and it was a fairly well known woman teacher of fiction but she did much like my efforts that summer. So i never went on beyond trying to write more fiction after that. I was also struck, i remember we had a discussion whether there was a necessity to drop the atomic bomb on japan but i remember you telling me that they told you while theyre getting it to go to before the invasion of japan that you fully believe you going to go and i when they informed you at that moment. Well, i dont know about absolutely dying but we knew that when we get those beaches of japan it would be, it would make nobody look like nothing. They emphasize that in our training where we were having to use all kinds of weapons. In georgia, they had fake japanese villages we recaptured, and so on. I actually having had physics in high school, when the atomic bombs were dropped, i understood what the ee in e mc2 meant. I thought we might not ever have any more but it seemed without those bombs we still would have been hitting the beaches of japan spent the other thing i want to circle back to, you said you talked at cornell intellectual and cultural history which became the basis for the courses we both took at yale which was those studying slavery and antislavery. Did you feel it necessary to sort of because youre doing something new and made something that worked against american origins, is that why you couched it . Was that a necessary no. I was thinking, what would be on slavery and antislavery. I mean, i was interested in a broad survey of American Intellectual culture history. I was teaching a large lecture classes as well as seminars, but it was only a small part. Was a teaching slaver antislavery or people, and become especially come to your mac, and john is a lot of work on attitudes towards antislavery in the academy. John, maybe you before i ask the question, im just curious if you could just summarize some of the challenges that you faced when youre writing the problem of slavery in western culture and the problem of or in the problem