Boston College Holds Exhibit on ‘Righting Historical Wrongs’

ashley.rae | May 5, 2017
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(Image source: Boston College)

The Boston College history department, in collaboration with the university library system, is featuring an exhibit on “righting historical wrongs.”

The website for the “Righting Historical Wrongs at the Turn of the Millennium” project, which is part of the school’s "Making History Public" series, includes student presentations on “historical justice issues.”

Franziska Seraphim, the professor for the class, told the College Fix the idea of “righting historical wrongs” has to do with “facing historical atrocities that happened in the past and that somehow all of a sudden needed addressing.”

“It has to do with digging up stuff from World War II that has not been addressed, like sexual slavery in Asia. It also has to do with the increasing sort of awareness in our own societies of ongoing systemic historical wrongs such as slavery,” she explained.

According to Seraphim, the “righting historical wrongs” idea is a “huge movement.”

 “It’s everywhere and it has to do with the global justice movement. It comes from the grassroots. Governments are pressured more and more to get with it and make statements about it. And governments pressure other governments,” Seraphim said.

Examples of the “righting historical wrongs” allegedly include the Catholic Church apologizing for sexual abuse and Georgetown University’s apology for slavery that includes preferential admissions treatment for alleged descendants of slaves.

According to the Boston College website, the exhibit is on display in the history department and includes projects by students in which they map how issues are interconnected across the globe.

Shane Ewing, who worked on the exhibit, said, “We do not want people to focus exclusively on the injustices they care most about.

“Like the global networks of researchers, museums, and NGOs which learn how to better advance memory and justice from each other, I hope those who view this exhibit will see how interwoven justice movements are. We do not exist as communities in isolation and we have much to learn from those outside our immediate communities,” he said.

A report by the BC Heights claims the exhibit ends by asking attendees, “What unredressed mass atrocities need our attention?” and offers them a chance to write on a dry-erase board what they believe needs addressing.

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