A webinar exploring obstacles faced by the enslaved in securing their freedom will mark the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, March 21.

Charmaine Nelson, founding director of the Institute for the Study of Canadian Slavery at NSCAD University, will present “The Precariousness of Freedom: Slave Resistance as Experience, Process, and Representation” at 1 p.m. Monday. Dr. Nelson teaches art history and holds the Canada Research Chair in Transatlantic Black Diasporic Art and Community Engagement.

Transatlantic slavery solidified ideals of white superiority, legitimized the displacement of approximately 12 million Africans, and created the Black diaspora, she notes. However, the enslaved did not submit meekly, seeking to maintain their dignity and humanity and to seize their liberty.

The lecture will offer comparative examples of enslaver brutality and enslaved resistance from Canada, the United States, and tropical regions. A question-and-answer session will follow.

English major Victoria Hecnar will open the event by reading a poem on Indigeneity in celebration of World Poetry Day.

The event is presented as part of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Decolonization (EDID) Week. Click here for more information, including a recommended reading list and registration to receive the Teams link.