Toronto, Canada (June 4, 2007)—In commemoration of the 200^th anniversary of the Abolition of the Transatlantic Slave Trade, the Caribbean-Canadian Literary Exposition (CCLE), in conjunction with the Consul General for Trinidad and Tobago, Toronto, will launch new editions of two of Eric Williams’ best known books, Capitalism and Slavery, and Inward Hunger:  The Education of a Prime Minister.  The event will take the form of a lecture delivered by Jamaican-born scholar, Colin A. Palmer, Dodge Professor of History, Princeton University, and author of the most recent scholarly biography, Eric Williams and the Making of the Modern Caribbean. 

The Lecture, Reception and Book Sale will take place at 4:00 p.m. on Sunday, June 10, 2007 at the Shangri La Banquet and Convention Centre, 50 Esna Park Drive, Markham, Ontario (Woodbine Avenue, Highway 404, North of Steeles Avenue).  

The Bicentenary provides a singular opportunity to pay tribute to Williams’ 63-year-old analysis of this debate, which remains, according to Palmer “the most provocative contribution to the study of the complex relationship between the African slave trade, slavery, the rise of British capitalism, and the emancipation of the slave population in the West Indies.   Capitalism and Slavery,” says Palmer, “takes on renewed meaning and relevance today even affecting the naming of a basketball stadium in Brooklyn, New York, for the UK banking giant Barclays.  Despite Barclay’s paying US $300m for the privilege, African-American leaders there vehemently object, citing Williams’ work as evidence of its inappropriateness.”  The book has been translated into eight languages, including Russian, Chinese, Japanese and this year for the first time, Korean.  Few modern historical works have enjoyed its enduring intellectual influence and appeal, causing the 1997 New York Times Book Review to term “The Williams Thesis” as remaining on the “cutting edge of slave trade research in academic circles.”

Williams, a noted Caribbean statesman and consummate historian, was the first Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago and head of government for a quarter of a century until his death in 1981.  He led his country to Independence from Britain in 1962 and onto Republicanism in 1976. In April 2007, and in recognition of his consistent anti-apartheid policies, Williams was conferred posthumously with South Africa’s highest National Award, the Order of the Companions of O.R. Tambo.

Born and reared in Jamaica, Colin Palmer received his BA at the University College of the West Indies/London and his MA and Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin.  He has taught at Oakland University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill - serving as Chair of the Department of History and attaining the rank of William Rand Kenan Professor.  He also taught at the Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York, where he was named a Distinguished Professor.  He has held several prestigious fellowships at the National Humanities Center, The Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences and the Stanford Humanities Center. 

Palmer is the author of numerous books and articles, including Slaves of the White God: Blacks in Mexico, 1570 – 1650; Human Cargoes: The British Slave Trade to Spanish America,1700 – 1739; and Passageways: An Interpretive History of Black America (2 vols.).  The editor-in-chief of the Encyclopedia of African American Life and Culture (6 vols.), his forthcoming book is entitled The Politics of Power:  Cheddi Jagan, Great Britain, the United States, and the Struggle for British Guiana.

“Colin Palmer is a distinguished historian of consummate skill.  He brings to his work an impeccable command of historical methodology enhanced by powerfully original insights, exemplary empathy, and a truly magisterial command of the historical literature of several fields,” says Franklin Knight, Leonard and Helen R. Stulman Professor of History at JohnsHopkins University. “His topic, Eric Williams: A Caribbean Visionary, will examine Williams’ imagination of a new Caribbean order and will critique contemporary Caribbean leadership and vision.”

 Books by Eric Williams and Colin Palmer will be available for purchase and signing at the event. 

- EWMC -