Pulitzer Prize-winning author and public historian David W. Blight will deliver the 2026 Humanities Symposium Keynote Address. The free lecture takes place Thursday, March 12, at 6:30 p.m., in McGuire Hall (Andrew White Student Center, 4501 North Charles St., Baltimore, Md. 21210).

The event will offer the community an opportunity to visit Loyola University Maryland to reflect on how the Declaration of Independence’s aspirational ideals continue to shape and challenge our understanding of equality 250 years after its signing.

“David Blight was chosen as our keynote speaker for his expertise on Frederick Douglass, his dynamic range as an expressive speaker, and his ability to contextualize historical information within a contemporary context,” said Humanities Symposium Director Billy Friebele, Associate Professor of Visual Arts and Program Director of Studio Art. 

“We invite community members, scholars, students and journalists to join us for a timely and thought-provoking conversation,” Friebele added. “Attendees can expect to gain a deeper knowledge of Frederick Douglass and understand the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in a new light.”

A book signing with books available for purchase will immediately follow the talk. Guests can meet Blight, who has written and lectured extensively on slavery and abolitionism, the Civil War and Reconstruction, race relations, and problems in public history, American historical memory and African American intellectual and cultural history.

Blight's Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom garnered nine book awards – including the Pulitzer Prize, the Francis Parkman Prize, the Bancroft Prize and the Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize – and was optioned by Higher Ground Productions and Netflix for a projected feature film. He previously consulted for such documentary films as “Death and the Civil War,” the PBS series, "Africans in America," and "The Reconstruction Era."

In addition to being one of the authors of the bestselling American history textbook for the college level, A People and a Nation, Blight is series advisor and editor for Bedford Books’ American History and Culture series. He is also a frequent book reviewer for The New York Times, Washington Post Book World, the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, The Boston Globe, Slate, and other media outlets.

Having previously taught at Amherst College and held distinguished fellowships at Cambridge University, the Huntington Library, and the New York Public Library, Blight currently is Sterling Professor of History at Yale University and Director of the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition. As chair of the Yale and Slavery Working Group, he co-authored Yale and Slavery: A History, a narrative study of Yale’s historic involvement and associations with slavery and its aftermaths, published by Yale University Press in February 2024. 

Advance registration for the keynote address is encouraged by visiting www.loyola.edu/symposium. 

About the Symposium 

Since 1986, Loyola’s Humanities Center has sponsored the annual Humanities Symposium – a series of events related to a particular text for students, faculty, friends of the University and the Baltimore community. The main goal has been to get a large portion of the Loyola community to read the same work at roughly the same time and to be engaged in a common inquiry. Keynote speakers have included Elie Wiesel, Toni Morrison, Tracy Chevalier, Czeslaw Milosz, Phil Klay, Vice Admiral James B. Stockdale and William Bennett.

Following the theme of Life, Liberty, and the Unfinished Work of Democracy, the 2026 Humanities Symposium will explore the powerful tensions between the Declaration of Independence’s promise of universal rights and Frederick Douglass’ piercing critique in his landmark address, “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” 

Students are studying The Declaration of Independence and “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” by Frederick Douglass. Various faculty workshops, student-faculty colloquia and activities are planned, including a reenactment of Frederick Douglass' speech by Nathan Richardson, Wednesday, Feb 11, at 5 p.m. For more information about the Symposium, visit www.loyola.edu/symposium.

 

About the Center

The Center for the Humanities was established in 1983 through the generosity of many donors and of the National Endowment for the Humanities to provide strength and vision to the humanities at Loyola University Maryland. It offers lectures, fine arts performances, research support for both faculty and students, and support for teaching in the humanities. For more information, visit www.loyola.edu/department/center-humanities.