The Enduring Creativity of Afro-European Cultures in America

3RD ANNUAL SILAS PEIRCE LECTURE Join the College of Arts & Sciences for "The Enduring Creativity of Afro-European Cultures in America,” presented by David Fischer, author of Albion’s Seed. The central theme of Professor Fischer's lecture is the invention of new values and cultures, mainly by African slaves of European masters, in what is now the United States. The range of this creativity is most evident when we study regions in time. Its long reach is apparent in our era. Many Americans today, whatever our cultural origins may have been, are more than a little African in our language, music, religion, and the continuing creativity of our own culture. David Fischer is University Professor and Earl Warren Professor of History at Brandeis University. His major works have tackled everything from large macroeconomic and cultural trends (Albion's Seed, The Great Wave) to narrative histories of significant events (Paul Revere's Ride, Washington's Crossing) to explorations of historiography (Historians' Fallacies, in which he coined the term Historian's fallacy). He is best known for his major study, Albion's Seed, which argued that core aspects of American culture stem from several different British folkways and regional cultures. This lecture was established by the heirs of Silas Peirce, treasurer of Boston University (1911-1922) and University Trustee (1899-1922).