By: Kanisha Fowler
Release Club went to a Historians Against Slavery Conference at Gettysberg College in Gettysberg, Pa.
“They were so nice and friendly,” said Mariah Richardson, president of Release Club. “We arrived on Friday at 1 p.m. and it ended Saturday around 4 p.m.”
The conference was a collaboration of scholars from different places, coming together to present their research dealing with slavery. There was research about Frederick Douglass, boycotting and more.
Scholars came from places like Yale University, University of Cincinnati, Babson College and more. The whole idea of the conference is for historians to share and present information about modern day slavery.
Historians Against Slavery, (HAS), is an organization whose goal is to help with the anti-slavery movement by bringing historical knowledge and understanding. They do a lot of collaborations to help the activists involved with this movement.
Richardson said the conference was a lot of fun and everyone was friendly and open. She was happy to be there meeting all the different scholars and students involved in the movement. Gettysberg’s chapter is called Free the Slaves and they actually hosted Release Club, paying for them to be there.
“We’re really glad to be partnering with HAS,” Richardson said.
GWU Release Club partners with them through their free project. That is for college campuses seeking to make a difference with the anti-slavery movement. The Release Club has partnered with them since last semester.
Release Club’s main purpose is to spread awareness of human trafficking around campus. In February, they got involved with the national End It Movement. They had a booth inside the cafeteria telling student about it and had them write an X on their hand to show support. They also made a human X on the quad.
The Release Club has all their activities listed on their blog as well as HAS’ free project website.