Tuesday, May 3, 2022, 11:30 AM – 1 PM EDT
Kali Gross, National Endowment for the Humanities Professor of African American Studies
“Maria, 1681: Historical Legacies of Race, Gender, and Disposability”
Dr. Kali Gross, recently named a Carnegie Fellow for 2021-2022, will discuss her historical research and current book project on Black women and capital punishment. She will map historical disparities, touch upon research challenges, and explore the need for histories on difficult subjects through the case of Maria, an enslaved woman burned at the stake in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1681. Convicted of arson for burning down her owner’s home and that of a local doctor, Maria exists in history as both an ominous omen of the nexus of race, gender, and justice, and an enigma that highlights the gaps in historical archives.