Abolition Website

Since 2006, incoming Library Company Director Richard Newman has on five occasions taught well-received summer seminars at the Library Company for K-12 teachers on the Abolition Movement. In 2012, the National Endowment for the Humanities—which funds the seminars—provided an additional $10,000 grant designed to supplement the seminar’s pedagogy with digital innovation. The result, unveiled this year, was abolitionseminar.org--a model educational resource for both teachers and students based on the seminar curriculum that can greatly extend its reach.

The project includes a virtual seminar experience, lesson plans, a map of important sites in the historyof anti-slavery movements around the world, and a YouTube channel playlist of featured seminar speakers and historic site tours, as well as extensive links to primary source materials. The most popular feature has proved to be a map application that allows for crowdsourcing of historic data. As a vehicle for engagement with website visitors, the map application will be an integral part of the site’s growth and sustainability.