About the talk:
Dr. Katharine Gerbner, historian of religion
Could enslaved people become Christian? If they did, could they remain enslaved? How did the debates about religion and slavery in colonial America inform ideas about religious freedom in the revolutionary period? This talk will explore the history of Christianity and slavery and the emergence of religious freedom as an ideal in early America. Doing so offers insight into the complicated legacy of Patrick Henry, who was a devout Christian, a proponent of religious liberty, and a lifelong enslaver who opposed slavery.
About the speaker:
Dr. Katharine Gerbner is a historian of religion, slavery, and freedom. She is the author of Christian Slavery: Conversion and Race in the Protestant Atlantic World (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2018) and Archival Irruptions: Constructing Religion and Criminalizing Obeah in Eighteenth-Century Jamaica (Duke University Press, 2025). She is Associate Professor of History and Director of the Religious Studies Program at the University of Minnesota.
Event registration:
This event is FREE and will be streamed on Red Hill’s social media pages on Wednesday, November 5, at 2:00 p.m. EST as part of our monthly Red Hill Rediscovered lecture series. After registering, you will receive links by email.
