John Saillant Keynote Lecture ~ Thurs., 1/24/13

The English Department’s Scholarly Speakers Series
presents its
Spring Keynote Lecture

PROF. JOHN SAILLANT (WMU)

“The Raw and the Cooked in
African-American Textual Production, 1770-1830”

John Saillant will discuss the aims and methods of one of his current projects in African American history and culture. It is a study of early black writings in English (1770--1830) as fluid texts beginning with autographs that were turned into printed editions that were then reprinted in a variety of forms---abridged, bowlderized, or expanded. Readers and publishers---including occasionally the author himself or herself as a reader---forced material changes in these texts. What interests were expressed in the revisions? Were all the genres in which early black writers worked subject to the same revisonary pressures? And, is there now any authoritative text within such writings?

Thursday, Jan. 24, 2013
7:00 PM
Brown 3025

The talk is free and open to the public.

A reception will follow.


John Saillant received his A.B., A.M., and doctoral degrees in American Civilization from Brown University. He is the author of a monograph (Black Puritan, Black Republican: The Life and Thought of Lemuel Haynes) and essays in scholarly journals, the editor of one collection of documents and of one collection of scholarly essays, and the co-author of a textbook. He was one of the founding moderators of H-NET and since 1994 he has been moderator of H-OIEAHC, the electronic association of the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture. Most recently, he served several years as one of the editors of the African American National Biography, which appeared in early 2008. His work has been supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Council of Learned Societies, and several other organizations. He has worked with several colleagues in a U.S. Department of Education project, Teaching American History, in which he has led discussion among middle-school teachers of the American Revolution and the ratification of the U.S. Constitution. At WMU, he teaches in the English, History, and Comparative Religion Departments: Early American Literature, African American Literature, Colonial American History, The New Nation, American Religion, and occasional special-topic courses.