Join us in the OI Conference room, Swem Library, campus of William & Mary, for a discussion of “‘not to suffer him to be made subject to personal Slavery and Bondage’: Black Convict Transportation and Servitude in the British Atlantic World.”

Nicole Dressler is a Senior Lecturer in History at William & Mary. Before coming to William and Mary, she was a dissertation fellow at the McNeil Center for Early American Studies. Her research has also been supported by the Library Company of Philadelphia, American Philosophical Society, and the Global Humanitarianism Research Academy in Mainz and Geneva. She is currently working on a manuscript that explores the role that British convict transportation and penal servitude in America played in the early history of humanitarianism. Her scholarly interests include the history of unfree labor, the development of abolitionism in the British Empire, and humanitarianism and human rights in the Atlantic World.

The OI holds between three and six colloquia per semester to discuss projects (usually a postdoctoral book chapter or article) in progress. The paper is pre-circulated and available by request. Although only postdoctoral work is presented, graduate students at all levels are warmly encouraged to attend the sessions and participate in the discussions.

To receive copies of the pre-circulated papers you must register in advance. All colloq participants are expected to have read the paper before the discussion and are asked to refrain from sharing the papers with others. We thank you for your observance of this request.