What I Am Thinking About Now: Vanessa Fabien, Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Africana Studies and the Cogut Center for the Humanities

Situated within a historical framework during the antebellum and twentieth century, this research examines the complexities of African Americans’ moral consideration of nature and their environmental ethic. Through analyzing archival and other primary sources, this study examines how the natural environment fashioned African Americans’ direct forms of activism against institutionalized slavery, a failed Reconstruction, collapsed economy during the Great Depression, and forced ghettoized living conditions in urban spaces spurred by racial restrictive covenants during the 20th century.

What I Am Thinking About Now is an on-going informal workshop/seminar series to which faculty and graduate students are invited to present and discuss recently published work and work in progress.

Space is limited. Please RSVP: [email protected]