Upcoming BHSU Geek Speak to discuss the Haitian Revolution

Dr. Jason Daniels, assistant professor of history, will examine how the Haitian Revolution transformed one of the most productive European colonies of its day into an independent state run by formerly enslaved peoples and their descendants in the next Geek Speak lecture at Black Hills State University.

Dr. Jason Daniels, assistant professor of history, will examine how the Haitian Revolution transformed one of the most productive European colonies of its day into an independent state run by formerly enslaved peoples and their descendants in the next Geek Speak lecture at Black Hills State University.

Daniels will present "Truly Revolution? The Haitian Revolution and its Legacy" Thursday, Feb. 23 at 4 p.m. in Jonas Hall room 110 on the BHSU campus. Daniels says that among all the American struggles for colonial independence, the Haitian Revolution involved the greatest degree of mass mobilization, and brought the greatest degree of social and economic change.

"My talk aims to explain the events of the Haitian Revolution, to illustrate how those events deeply impacted the institution of African slavery and notions about race across the Atlantic world, and to evaluate the relationship between the first two independent nations in Western Hemisphere, Haiti and the U.S.," says Daniels.

In the end, Daniels says the rebellion produced the world's first examples of emancipation, colonial representation in a metropolitan assembly, and full racial equality in a European colony.

"I hope students and the community will come to a greater appreciation of the Age of Revolution. Both the French Revolution and the socio-economic and political evolution of the U.S. during its infancy were deeply impacted by the events in Saint Domingue," says Daniels.  

The following on-campus Geek Speak presentations, which are held Thursdays at 4 p.m. in Jonas Hall, room 110, are scheduled for this semester:
  • March 16, "Do-si-dos and dihedrals: mathematics and, wait, what...dance?!? " by Dr. Dan May, assistant professor of mathematics
  • March 23, "Advocating for the Protection of Native Women Through Theatrical, Spoken Word and Slam Poetry Performances" by Dr. Nikki Dragone, assistant professor of English
  • March 30, "Bad Bureaucrats? The Future of Whistleblowing in a Post-Snowden World" by BHSU alum and Ph.D. student Cody Drolc
  • April 6, "From Blake to the Beatles and Beyond: The Legacy of Romanticism" by Dr. Martin Fashbaugh, assistant professor of English
  • April 20, "Metapatterns" by Dr. Liz Fayer, instructor/coordinator Project SECOND, and Dr. Joanna Jones, former BHSU professor
  • April 27, "Madness in Popular Culture: The 'Insanity' of Women, by Dr. Laura Colmenero-Chilberg, professor of sociology
For more information, contact Dr. Courtney Huse Wika, director of the University Honors Program and assistant professor of English, at 605-642-6918 or email Courtney.HuseWika@BHSU.edu.