Labor Acknowledgement

ACPA26 is grateful to continue the work of the ACPA25 Equity & Inclusion team with our Convention-specific labor recognition statement. Inspired by the thought leadership of TJ Stewart and the work of the University of Maryland College Park Enslavement Acknowledgment Committee, and in collaboration with the efforts of the ACPA President, Jonathan A. McElderry, this statement articulates the ways that labor shapes our Convention experience here in Baltimore, with a particular emphasis on the often disregarded and exploited labor of Black and Brown people.

Labor Acknowledgment

ACPA26 recognizes and honors the exploited labor of forcefully enslaved people upon which the foundations of the United States and many of our institutions of higher education were built. Enslaved people of African descent farmed, paved, maintained, birthed and cared for children, and developed the land on which many colleges exist today. Additionally, ACPA26 recognizes “that much of what we know of this country today, including its culture, economic growth, and development throughout history and across time, has been made possible by the labor of enslaved Africans and their ascendants” (Stewart, 2021, para. 5). These unresolved injustices reverberate to this day – including within higher and postsecondary education – in the systemic disregard for and exploitation of the labor of multiple minoritized communities, particularly those who are Black and Brown.

Baltimore’s history with enslavement is deeply tied to its port economy, which served as a major hub for the domestic slave trade – often described as the Second Middle Passage – in the 18th and 19th centuries. Despite having the largest free Black population in the U.S. by 1810, the city simultaneously thrived on the labor of enslaved people, with many sold through markets in Fells Point and Pratt Street – just around the corner from where we gather – until Maryland abolished slavery in 1864. Right here in Baltimore, just miles from us are sites of history and resilience of Black abolition:

  • 0.7 miles from us is the B&O Railroad Museum, a designated Underground Railroad site
  • Along the Baltimore waterline, abolitionist Harriet Tubman freed her niece, brother, and a woman named Tilly – Tilly’s rescue has been considered one of Tubman’s most dangerous and complicated rescues
  • and of course, Baltimore is the starting point for Frederick Douglass’ freedom and abolitionist work; following his move from the Maryland Eastern shore, Baltimore is where many understand Douglass assisted Tubman in 1851 to free one of the largest group of enslaved Black people

Through intergenerational resistance, leadership, and a steadfast pursuit of freedom and justice, descendants of enslaved people fought and continue to fight for a societal transformation in defiance of the profound injustices of the transatlantic trade, chattel slavery, convict leasing, Jim Crow laws, dehumanization, and the caste system that permeates our existence.

In addition, ACPA26 acknowledges the multiple ways that labor continues to be stolen and exploited through migrant laborers, incarcerated labor, detention camps, and more. With an understanding that we are currently under two miles from a Baltimore prison, and in conjunction with this year’s pre-conference excursion in partnership with the Maryland Correctional Institute for Women and Maryland Correctional Institute-Jessup, it is critical that we name the harmful and ongoing forms of labor experienced by individuals incarcerated through forced, often unpaid or low-paid, work performed by individuals within the prison industrial system as punishment or a perceived form of rehabilitation.

We are forever indebted to the unwilling generational sacrifices and stolen labor of the enslaved Africans and their descendants. Together, as an Association we will – and have a responsibility to – strive to atone, heal, and uplift the unbreakable spirit and beauty of Black and Brown Americans.

Invitation to Act

We invite all Convention participants to engage in an active process of recognizing and honoring the past and present labor which make our gathering possible. Such action can take many forms, including but not limited to:

  • Respecting intellectual labor by appropriately citing sources in Convention programming, with particular care to avoid erasing Black and Brown people, along with other minoritized scholar-practitioners from their own work
  • Engaging with Convention programming relevant to labor histories, including those with a focus on healing from intergenerational trauma
  • Recognizing the multiple forms of volunteer labor provided year-round by ACPA members and our International Office staff to lead the association and advance our goals and values
  • Honoring our own labor as convention attendees, acknowledging that the kinds and amount of labor required for participation is shaped by our social group memberships and positionalities
  • Demonstrating appreciation for the local laborers working in our Convention facilities and venues and the greater Baltimore community to make our collective ACPA26 experience a positive one.

For more information about our Convention labor recognition and invitations to action, please visit the ACPA26 Convention website and navigate to the “Commitment to Inclusion” tab.

Whichever ways you choose to begin or to renew a commitment to action, remember that it is within these limited and cherished moments of being in community that we are united and stronger by celebrating our common bonds. We will work to live into these values this week.