Participant Info

First Name
Anne
Last Name
Bailey
Affiliation
Dr.
Website URL
https://www.annecbailey.com
Keywords
race, asylum seekers, civil rights, Declaration of Independence, Emancipation Day, Gullah Geechee, human rights, immigrants, slave auction, slavery, The Weeping Time, public history and memory, African American history, colonialism, Caribbean, Jamaica, Con federate statues, Abolitionist history, monuments, protest movements, Abolition movement, civil rights movement, Mt. Rushmore, Atlantic Slave trade, Africa, mass incarceration, systemic racism, Truth and Reconciliation, NY Times Magazine 1619 Project
Additional Contact Information
Available anytime

Personal Info

Photo
About Me

 

Anne C. Bailey is a writer, historian, and a Professor of History and Africana Studies at SUNY Binghamton (State University of New York). In her work, she combines the elements of travel, adventure, history, and an understanding of contemporary issues with an accessible style. Her works range from adult non-fiction to children’s historical fiction, and include African Voices of the Atlantic Slave Trade: Beyond the Silence and the Shame, (Beacon Press, 2005) and You Can Make A Difference: The Story of Martin Luther King Jr.(Bantam/Doubleday/Dell)  Her newest book, The Weeping Time:  Memory and the  Largest Slave Auction in  American History, was published by Cambridge University Press in October, 2017.

 

Bailey takes readers on a journey that spans many countries and several continents. Born in Jamaica to William and Daphne Bailey, her work has been informed by extended stays in Paris, London, and West Africa. After immigrating to New York City where she attended high school, she studied English and French at Harvard University and later got her Ph.D. in African History and African Diaspora Studies from the University of Pennsylvania.

 

Bailey is committed to a concept of “living history” in which events of the past are connected to current and contemporary issues. She is also concerned with the reconciliation of communities after age old conflicts like slavery, war and genocide. This is best evidenced in her non-fiction book, The Weeping Time. This book is the first non-fiction title to look at the operation of a major slave auction in the United States and to trace the lives of slaves before and after their sale. The Weeping Time is unique in making use of interviews of the living descendants of slave families sold on the auction block.

The story of “the weeping time “ is at its very essence a story of the strength and resilience of families, in this case, African American families, who in spite of a history of displacement and loss, managed to reassemble the fragments of their past.  In the face of extraordinary challenges, many former slave families went looking for one another after emancipation and reestablished strong ties that remain to this day. This was no ordinary feat since thousands of slave auctions during the antebellum period alone made separation very common. The Butler slaves and their descendants are an important example of the triumph of family bonds.

Bailey is also committed to sharing her work with the public at various events.  Of note, on March 18, 2015, she was invited to speak at the United Nations on the occasion of the commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation.  She shared her research, writing and other professional experiences with NGOs that are affiliated with the United Nations.   In so doing, she was able to honor the lives and contributions of enslaved black Americans and others in the African Diaspora.

Articles/appearances (in brief)

Confederate statues: https://theconversation.com/tearing-down-confederate-statues-leaves-structural-racism-intact-101951

Mass incarceration:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/mass-incarceration-dark-roots-largest-070002968.html

Slave auction sites- 1619  Project NY Times Magazine

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/02/12/magazine/1619-project-slave-auction-sites.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/29/us/the-hidden-history-of-slavery-that-surrounds-us.html

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/1619-america-slavery.html  (p. 98)

TV

https://wbng.com/2020/06/08/binghamton-university-professor-teaches-how-people-can-better-explore-diversity/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook_WBNG_12_News&fbclid=IwAR17lGe_tE0sy9wz5MbCP3rZmAleRn4Egp39ayXYo27aYveiavAbtpQtR58

 

https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nys/binghamton/news/2020/06/09/civil-rights-scholar-discusses-racism-and-change

Presentation to the United Nations on Slave Emancipations

http://webtv.un.org/meetings-events/watch/forever-free:-celebrating-emancipation-dpingo-briefing/2235556987001  (intervention starts at 12 min.)

This is an excerpt of a newscast on one of the UN’s media channels.
http://www.southsouthnews.com/Pages/SSN.aspx?nc=1&t=s&s=1&h=false&lo=false&v=2013/03/20130325173103667&vid=e9953ca8-63a5-4544-b08c-3cd9178b8823&cid=&r=6987

Anne Bailey is  also committed to non -profit organizations which are attempting to make a difference in underserved communities around the world.  These include Green Team International in which she works with rural communities in Jamaica in the areas of education and environmental development.

Finally, Anne Bailey is to head a new Center for the Public Memory of Slavery and Freedom at Binghamton University (BFREE), only one of three such institutions (in addition to Yale and Brown) in the country.

 

Website: https://www.annecbailey.net

Professor of History, Binghamton University

https://www.binghamton.edu/history/people/faculty/acbailey.html

Director of Harriet Tubman Center for Freedom and Equity

https://www.binghamton.edu/centers/harriet-tubman/people.html

Blog:

https://annecbailey.net/blog/

Email:abailey@binghamton.edu

Tel no (607) 768 4633

 

 

 

 

Recent Publications

 

The Weeping Time: Memory and the Largest Slave Auction in American History (Cambridge University Press, 2017)

 

African Voices of the Atlantic Slave Trade: Beyond the Silence and the Shame (Beacon Press, 2005)

Blog: https://annecbailey.net/blog/

Media Coverage
RECENT POSITIVE PRESS FOR THE WEEPING TIME (Cambridge University Press, 2017) Newsweek Op-Ed May 1, 2018 http://www.newsweek.com/slavery-prison-mass-incarceration-auction-906345 Binghamton President Harvey Stenger’s Annual Report Spring 2018 htt
Country Focus
United States
Expertise by Geography
Africa, Atlantic, British Isles, Caribbean, Central America, Latin America
Expertise by Chronology
19th century
Expertise by Topic
American Civil War, American Revolution, Colonialism, Emancipation, Environment, Family, Genocide, Higher Ed, Holocaust & Nazi Persecution, Human Rights, Migration & Immigration, Museums, Pedagogy, Public History, Race, Rebellion & Revolution, Slavery, Women