2026 Black History Month Lecture with Dr. Seth E. Rockman

We’re excited to welcome Dr. Seth E. Rockman for our Commemorating the Lives: Black History Month Lecture on Sunday, February 8 at 2 p.m. He will present on his recent book Plantation Goods: A Material History of American Slavery.

Check back soon for registration details! This lecture will be virtual.

Rockman is a historian of the United States focusing on the period between the American Revolution and the Civil War. His research unfolds at the intersection of slavery studies, labor history, material culture studies, and the history of capitalism. Rockman’s earlier work— the award-winning Scraping By: Wage Labor, Slavery, and Survival in Early Baltimore (2009) and the co-edited volume Slavery’s Capitalism: A New History of American Economic Development (2016)— sought to better understand the relationship of slavery and capitalism in the American past. In December 2022, Rockman shared his research findings with the US House Financial Services Committee in live testimony. Rockman’s new book, Plantation Goods: A Material History of American Slavery, was published by University of Chicago Press in Fall 2024.