Presenting at the CT Ethnic Studies Symposium
Emma*, a senior at Yale, writes about her and other students’ experience presenting at the Connecticut Ethnic Studies Symposium, hosted at the University of Connecticut.
*Emma Peterson ‘24 (she/her) is a senior at Yale University, majoring in History of Science and Medicine.
Yakeleen Almazan & Isabella Morales presenting their work at the symposium
On April 5th, three students from the Fall 2023 Eugenics and Its Afterlives class with Professor Daniel HoSang presented their work at the 3rd Annual Connecticut Ethnic Studies Symposium, hosted at the University of Connecticut. The symposium brought together students from universities around Connecticut to learn about, share, and discuss the research efforts of students in ethnic studies and race and diaspora studies. Presentation panels covered a wide range of themes including Black Women’s Visibility and Educational Justice, Asian American Art and Storytelling, Latino Identity, Migration, and Community, Mass Incarceration, Medical Racism, Reproductive Rights and Survivorship, and more.
At the symposium, students Isabella Morales and Yakeleen Almazan presented their work organizing and systematizing archival material related to the history of eugenics at Yale. Emma Peterson presented her senior thesis work about obstetricians’ involvement in eugenics. The work by Isabella and Yakeleen can be found on our website, titled “Yale and Eugenics: A Dive into the Archives.” Emma’s senior thesis will be uploaded to the website soon under the “Original Scholarship” page.
This year’s symposium marked the 50th anniversary of the 1974 sit-in at Wilbur Cross Library, where Connecticut state police arrested 219 Black students demanding the construction of an African American Cultural Center. The Connecticut State Poet Laureate, Antoinette Brim-Bell, gave a keynote address, shared excerpts of her poetry, and spoke about her work writing poetry for the Old Lyme, CT Witness Stone project which commemorates the lives of enslaved African Americans and Native Americans who labored in the historic town of Lyme.