Lilly Library Exhibition
The Lilly Library collection includes unique items from across the world that attest to histories of slavery and unfreedom in the Atlantic, Indian Ocean, Mediterranean, and Pacific worlds. This exhibition highlights several of these items and showcases the importance of studying the global interconnectedness of histories of slavery across the globe. It also draws attention to the various forms of fugitivity that challenged systems of slavery by acts of withdrawal and contestation. It aims to broaden and deepen our understanding of how histories of slavery and unfreedom continue to shape today’s inequities. The materials include items from different geographies, including textual passages in various languages and visual material from a range of places and times. The themes of the exhibition offer visitors a chance to reflect and learn more about processes of enslavement and forms of violence, the formation of runaway and maroon communities, histories of emancipation and abolition, and the ways in which these histories continue to affect and shape our world today.
