New Genetics and the Trans-Atlantic Slave Database Working Group

Co-Directors: Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and Evelynn M. Hammonds

Under the direction of Professors Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and Evelynn M. Hammonds, the New Genetics and the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Working Group was convened for the first time in January 2006 and included the nation’s top scientists, social scientists, and historians who discussed the latest research in genetics and how to effectively use historical and social contexts to understand the origins of the Africans who survived the Middle Passage in the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade to the United States. The first meeting included sessions on The New Historiography of the Slave Trade, The New Genetics, and Contemporary African Americans: Who Are We? The group’s next meeting will take place in 2008.