NY Slavery Online: Digital Humanities Projects Using AI and LOD

The latest digital humanities projects are using linked open data and sometimes even artificial intelligence to make new discoveries about the history of slavery in the United States, including in New York City and on Long Island.

Thanks to the open-access databases created by Enslaved.org, FreedomOnTheMove.org, and other projects, searching for information about people enslaved in the United States is getting much easier. With the help of students, faculty, and researchers from around the world, these databases continue to grow as more records are discovered, digitized, and added. These digital resources help us tell fuller stories about slavery in the region and also help people find their enslaved ancestors.

Earlier this year, Professor Chris Barnes created a dataset for Enslaved.org containing information about 149 individuals enslaved in Brooklyn who obtained their freedom between 1797 and 1825. He also published a peer-reviewed article describing the data and its historical context in the Journal of Slavery and Data Preservation, a publication that serves as the clearinghouse for new datasets deposited within Enslaved.org. The managing editor of the journal, Dr. Kristina Poznan, will join Chris Barnes for this hybrid event held in celebration of Open Access Week 2025.

Register for this SPARK Seminar and join us in the Innovation Center or via Zoom to learn more about this digital humanities work and ways of getting involved through ongoing projects and crowdsourcing.

This SPARK Seminar is free and open to all Adelphi undergraduates and faculty members, but registration is required.

This event is sponsored by The SPARK Center, Innovation Center, University Libraries.

For any questions, please contact Christopher Barnes at cbarnes@adelphi.edu.