Second Foundings: Universities, Slavery, and Struggles for Justice in Texas and Beyond
A conference hosted at Rice University, in collaboration with Universities Studying Slavery and the Texas Consortium of Universities and Colleges Studying Slavery and Race.
October 10-13, 2025
Rice University (Houston, Texas)
Keynote addresses by Ruth J. Simmons, President Emerita of Brown University, and Crystal R. Sanders, Associate Professor at Emory University
In 2025, the fall conference of the international Universities Studying Slavery (USS) consortium will be hosted in Houston, Texas, on the campus of Rice University, whose Task Force on Slavery, Segregation, and Racial Injustice recently concluded its formal work. Organized in collaboration with members of the Texas Consortium of Universities and Colleges Studying Slavery and Race, this conference will be the first meeting of the USS held west of the Mississippi River, as well as the first at a host institution opened after 1900.
As we gather in Texas during the 160th anniversary year of Juneteenth, the conference will consider questions including: How have the legacies of slavery and segregation shaped schools founded after abolition, including during the “Second Founding” of Reconstruction? When, why, and with what results were formerly segregated institutions re-founded as desegregating universities in the twentieth century? How can histories of slavery, segregation, and desegregation be seen on campus landscapes? As we approach the 20th anniversary of Brown University’s 2006 Slavery and Justice Report, where should the field of study that it helped to found go next? What roles have universities played in struggles for justice in the wake of slavery and segregation? What actions can and should they take now and in the future?
Registration
Register here to attend. The conference is free and open to the public. Registration is required.
More information about the schedule, travel arrangements, and keynote speakers can be found below. Questions? Email secondfoundings@rice.edu.
Travel Arrangements
Special Hotel Rate: A block of hotel rooms has been reserved for the nights of October 10, 11, and 12, at a special conference rate at the Intercontinental Hotel, which is located very conveniently to Rice University where most conference events will be held.
Rooms can be reserved online using this link, or by calling the hotel's Reservations Department at 713.422.2779 and pressing “0” to speak to in House Reservations or toll-free at 888-465-4329. Mention that you are with "Universities Studying Slavery Conference 2025" for nights between October 10 and October 12, inclusive. The cut-off date for the special rate of $173/night is 9/10/25 (note that the link will quote a hold for an amenities fee of $15, but this will not actually be charged to those who secure the conference rate).
The hotel does not provide a shuttle service, but please refer to the information below regarding transportation options from each airport. We recommend choosing Hobby Airport over George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) due to its proximity and ease of travel.
Travel to and from Hobby Airport
Hotel Parking, Transportation, and Driving Directions
Travel Scholarships: The conference is offering eight travel scholarships ($500 each) through Austin College’s Council of Independent Colleges' Legacies of American Slavery grant. All conference attendees are encouraged to apply for these travel grants with preference given to graduate and undergraduate student applicants. Contact Professor Claire Wolnisty at Austin College to receive application forms, which must be completed by September 10.
Schedule Overview
A final schedule with session locations and all confirmed presenters will be made available later.
Friday, October 10
All events on Friday will be held at Rice University.
| Time | Session |
|---|---|
| 3-4:30 p.m. |
Documentary Screenings and Q&A with filmmakers
Light refreshments will follow the screenings. |
| 6 p.m. |
Plenary Roundtable: “Pathways and Lessons from a Generation of Studying Universities and Slavery” Moderators: Ashley P. Ferrell and Kaylah Morgan (University of Alabama) Panelists:
|
| 7:30-9 p.m. | Catered Opening Reception |
Saturday, October 11
All events on Saturday will be held at Rice University.
| Time | Session |
|---|---|
| 8-9 a.m. | Meet and Greet with Catered Breakfast |
| 9:15 a.m.- 10:30 a.m. |
Concurrent Sessions
|
| 11 a.m. |
Plenary Roundtable: “Commemorating Slavery and the Struggle for Justice” Panelists:
|
| 12-2 p.m. | Catered Lunch and Poster Session |
| 2:15 p.m.- 3:30 p.m. |
Concurrent Sessions
|
| 3:30 p.m. | Break with coffee and tea provided. |
| 3:45 p.m.- 5:00 p.m. |
Concurrent Sessions
|
| 5:00 p.m.- 7:00 p.m. | Dinner on your own in nearby Rice Village. Regular campus shuttle service will be available. |
| 7:00 p.m. |
Keynote Lecture Dr. Ruth J. Simmons (President Emerita of Smith College, Brown University, and Prairie View A&M University) Wine and cheese reception to follow. |
Sunday, October 12
Morning events will take place at Rice University.
| Time | Session |
|---|---|
| 8-9 a.m. | Working Breakfast for members of the Texas Consortium of Colleges and Universities Studying Slavery and Race |
| 9:00 a.m.- 10:15 a.m. |
Concurrent Sessions
|
| 10:15 a.m. | Break with coffee and tea provided. |
| 10:30 a.m.- 11:45 a.m. |
Concurrent Sessions
|
| 12-2 p.m. |
Catered Lunch and Plenary Roundtable: “Recognition and Remembrance: Historic Black Schools in the South before the Civil Rights Era” Panelists:
|
Afternoon events will be held at Texas Southern University.
| Time | Session |
|---|---|
| 2:15 p.m. | Shuttles depart from Rice for TSU. |
| 3:00 p.m. | Plenary Lecture at TSU University Museum |
| 4:00 p.m. |
Updates on the HBCU History and Culture Access Consortium Light refreshments and tours of Hannah Hall murals and university museum to follow. |
| 6:00 p.m. |
Keynote Lecture Dr. Crystal R. Sanders (Associate Professor of African African American Studies, Emory University) |
| Approx. 7:30 p.m. | Shuttles depart from TSU to Rice. Dinner on your own. |
Monday, October 13
All events on Monday will be held at Rice University.
| Time | Session |
|---|---|
| 8-9 a.m. | Continental breakfast provided. |
| 9:00 a.m.- 10:15 a.m. | Plenary Roundtable: Reflections on Rice University’s Task Force on Slavery, Segregation, and Racial Injustice, with members of the steering committee |
| 10:15 a.m. | Break with coffee and tea provided. |
| 10:30 a.m.- 11:45 a.m. |
Plenary Roundtable: Reflections on Rice University’s academic quadrangle and its redesign Panelists:
|
| 11:45 a.m. | Closing Remarks |
A final schedule with session locations and all confirmed presenters will be made available later.
Keynote Speakers
Ruth J. Simmons is a Distinguished Presidential Fellow at Rice University and Adviser to the President of Harvard University on HBCU Initiatives. She served as President of Prairie View A&M University until March 2023. Prior to joining Prairie View, she was President of Brown University from 2001-2012 and President of Smith College from 1995-2001. Under her leadership, Prairie View was reclassified as an R-2 Research University and Brown made significant strides in improving its standing as one of the world’s finest research universities.
A French professor before entering university administration, President Simmons held an appointment as a Professor of Comparative Literature and Africana Studies at Brown. After completing her Ph.D. in Romance Languages and Literatures at Harvard, she served in various faculty and administrative roles at the University of Southern California, Princeton University, and Spelman College before becoming president of Smith College, the largest women’s college in the United States. At Smith, she launched a number of important academic initiatives, including an engineering program, the first at an American women’s college.
Simmons is the recipient of many honors, including a Fulbright Fellowship to France, the 2001 President’s Award from the United Negro College Fund, the 2002 Fulbright Lifetime Achievement Medal, the 2004 Eleanor Roosevelt Val-Kill Medal, the Foreign Policy Association Medal, the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, and the Centennial Medal from Harvard University. She has received over forty honorary degrees from universities around the world, including Oxford University, Ewha Women’s University in South Korea and The American College in Greece. Simmons is a member of the National Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the Council on Foreign Relations, and serves on a number of boards including The MacArthur Foundation, Morehouse College, the Holdsworth Center, the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, the Barbara Bush Houston Literacy Foundation, the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, and Hines Global Income Trust. She received the Brown faculty’s highest honor: the Susan Colver Rosenberger Medal in 2011 and was honored by the Prairie View faculty in 2022. In 2012, she was named a ‘Chevalier’ of the French Legion of Honor and, in 2024 was promoted to “Officier” by the President of France. In 2024, she received the National Humanities Medal from President Joe Biden.
The author of numerous publications, her most recent memoire, Up Home, was a 2023 New York Times bestseller.
Crystal R. Sanders is an award-winning historian of the United States in the twentieth century. Her research and teaching interests include African American History, Black Women's History, and the History of Black Education. She received her BA (cum laude) in History and Public Policy from Duke University and a Ph.D. in History from Northwestern University. She is an Associate Professor of African American Studies at Emory University. Previously, she was an Associate Professor of History and the Director of the Africana Research Center at Pennsylvania State University.
Sanders is the author of A Forgotten Migration: Black Southerners, Segregation Scholarships, and the Debt Owed to Public HBCUs, published by the University of North Carolina Press in 2024. The book won the 2025 Pauli Murray Prize from the African American Intellectual History Society and the 2025 Outstanding Publication Award from SIG 168 of the American Educational Research Association. She is also the author of A Chance for Change: Head Start and Mississippi's Black Freedom Struggle, published by the University of North Carolina Press in 2016 as part of the John Hope Franklin Series in African American History and Culture. The book won the 2017 Critics Choice Award from the American Educational Research Association and the 2017 New Scholar’s Book Award from Division F of the American Educational Research Association. The book was also a finalist for the 2016 Hooks National Book Award. Sanders’ work can also be found in many of the leading history journals including the Journal of Southern History, the North Carolina Historical Review, and the Journal of African American History.
Sanders is the recipient of a host of fellowships and prizes. These honors include the C. Vann Woodward Prize from the Southern Historical Association, the Huggins-Quarles Award from the Organization of American Historians, and the Equity Award from the American Historical Association. She has also received an Andrew Mellon Graduate Fellowship in Humanistic Studies, a Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellowship, a National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation Dissertation Fellowship, a National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship, a Visiting Scholars Fellowship at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a Fellowship at the National Humanities Center.
Program Committee
- Caleb McDaniel, host (Rice University)
- Daniel Domingues da Silva (Rice)
- Portia Hopkins (Rice)
- Sarah Beth Kaufman (Trinity University)
- Karen Kossie-Chernyshev (Texas Southern University)
- Jeffrey L. Littlejohn (Sam Houston State University)
- Marco Robinson (Prairie View A&M University)
- Norma Santamaria (Rice)
- Claire Wolnisty (Austin College)
Major funding for this conference has been provided by Creative Ventures Funds from the Office of Research and by the Humanities Research Center at Rice University. Generous support has also been provided by the School of Humanities, the School of Social Sciences, the Center for African and African American Studies, Prairie View A&M University, the Department of History, the Department of Art History, and Fondren Library.
