The Adult Education program at the Newberry Library will offer a course on “Race-making in the Americas: From Columbus to the 1893 World’s Fair” weekly on Tuesdays from July 9–30, 2024. Led by Breanna Escamilla, an anthropologist from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the seminar will begin by analyzing the journal of Christopher Columbus and expand into the archival materials of religious missionaries in the Western Hemisphere, before turning toward the racial project of chattel-slavery in the Americas. Finally, we will examine anthropology’s project of race-making during the late nineteenth century through the spectacle of the famous 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition.

The class meets for four sessions at the Newberry from 2–3 pm. The fee is $200 ($180 for Newberry members, seniors, and students). Register at https://www.newberry.org/calendar/race-making-americas.