SMR: Instruction and Consultations

Lauinger Library has worked with faculty to support instruction using historical resources on slavery and race. Librarians have developed instructional sessions using primary sources, participated in teaching circles with faculty and staff, and partnered with colleagues at the Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship (CNDLS) to develop teaching resources. Librarians have also helped individual researchers identify resources that have enabled them to produce research papers, newspaper articles, art, and other works that have contributed to the conversation on slavery, race, and its legacies.

To request an instruction session using resources within the collections on Slavery, Memory, and Reconciliation, please contact Mary Beth Corrigan, mc248@georgetown.edu. Visit the SMR: Student Projects page for examples of student engagement with SMR.

Course Modules

Slavery, Memory, and Reconciliation – A Teaching Resource is a self-guided Canvas course designed by a team of faculty whose teaching has been transformed by the SMR Initiative, librarians who have improved access to the resources for the study of slavery and racism, and learning specialists at CNDLS. The modules introduce users to the growing understanding of Georgetown’s role in slavery and the exploration of its legacy among students, faculty, and GU272 descendants. The course provides faculty of any discipline knowledge and tools so that they can address the themes of the Slavery, Memory, and Reconciliation Initiative in their instruction.

Course participants will be able to adapt elements of these modules to their instructional sessions and class assignments. The course is divided into six parts: an orientation to the SMR Initiative; the history of slavery at Georgetown; the role of personal and community memory in providing insight into the experiences of enslaved people; the primary sources held by Georgetown; teaching methods with examples of student projects; and images and resources.

This Canvas course is open to the public:

Instruction Sessions Using Primary Sources

Professors are invited to arrange instructional sessions using the holdings of the Booth Family Center for Special Collections and other Lauinger resources to introduce students to the history of slavery at Georgetown and in the Potomac region more broadly. Documents make tangible the dehumanization of the slave system, the impact of the mass sale in 1838, the contradictions of the conversion of enslaved people to Catholicism by their Jesuit enslavers, and the resilience of the Black community formed in the crucible of slavery and racial segregation. Most classes include pop up exhibitions that enable students to interact with documents and other artifacts. 

Examples of instructional sessions:

  • Exploration of documents to find evidence of ableist hierarchies in the slave system
  • Examination of catalog records, finding aids, and other forms of description to discuss the use of language and ways of repairing the description to include the perspectives of marginalized people
  • Presentation of texts that justify slavery on spiritual grounds to provoke discussion about moral relativism and reconciliation
  • Creation of a crowdsourced database to support the restoration of the Mount Zion Cemetery-Female Union Band Society Cemetery in Georgetown. See a report on this student experience, “Black Georgetown Rediscovered” (July 8, 2021)
  • Demonstration of discovery tools for the study of slavery and race, including HoyaSearch, manuscript and archival finding aids, databases, and the Georgetown Slavery Archive
  • Instruction on how to trace citations and use keyword and natural language searches on newspaper databases to find documents related to slavery

Teaching Methods

The Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship (CNDLS) has partnered with faculty, librarians, and other members of the Georgetown community to foster a dialogue on innovative teaching. Its Inquiry and Discourse Toolkit provides guidance on establishing the conditions for academic expression, deep inquiry, and dialogue to enable professors to realize the University's foundational principles in their teaching.

The videos below explore some of the pedagogical considerations when asking students to engage with the history of slavery, the pervasiveness of racism, and restorative justice.

The following presentations from the Teaching, Learning, & Innovation Summer Institute (TLISI) address the impact of the Slavery, Memory, and Reconciliation Initiative and considerations when teaching aspects of the Initiative. NetID sign-in required to view all videos:

Podcasts produced by CNDLS

Requesting Instruction and Consultations

Librarians are available for instructional sessions and one-on-one research consultations for all types of projects that address the themes of the Slavery, Memory, and Reconciliation Initiative. To arrange a virtual or in-person consultation, please reach out to librarians in the following departments. Collaborations between departments are encouraged!

Booth Family Center for Special Collections offers instructional sessions in the Barbara Ellis Jones Inquiry Classroom and virtual and in-person consultations to support users of special collections.

Research Services offers virtual and in-person instructional sessions and consultations on the print and online collections. For subject specialists, see this listing.

The Digital Scholarship Services Unit offers instruction and consultations to enable faculty and students to explore and incorporate digital tools and methods into their teaching and learning. For members of the unit team, please see this listing.