Written by Colin McEvoy | March 18, 2025 | SHARE
Lehigh University will host a free screening of Slavery in the Age of Revolution, a documentary examining Oxford University's ties to the Transatlantic Slave Trade, at the ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks on March 25
A documentary about the Transatlantic Slave Trade will be screened at the ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks this month as part of the Lehigh University Equality & Justice on Screen Film Series.
Slavery in the Age of Revolution will be screened on Tuesday, March 25, at 7 p.m., at the theater at 101 Founders Way in Bethlehem. Admission is free.
The event has been organized by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Committee and Lehigh’s Office of International Affairs (OIA).
The 50-minute film looks at how Oxford University responded to the slave trade during the Age of Revolution. Through college archives and interviews, a portrait emerges of the discord the slave trade inflicted on the college and how its legacy continues to shape Oxford today.
Following the screening, a question-and-answer session will be held with the film’s director, Oliver St. Clair Franklin, along with Antonio Ellison II, Assistant Director of Study Abroad at Lehigh’s OIA, and John Villanova, Assistant Professor of Journalism & Communications/Africana Studies at Lehigh.
"For the past year, OIA has been cultivating this relationship with Honorary Consul Franklin and has been exploring ways to bring him to campus," Ellison said. "This opportunity to showcase, in conjunction with the MLK Committee, one of his many achievements is a great way to introduce him to the Lehigh Valley and is hopefully only the beginning of his engagement with our students, faculty, staff and community stakeholders."
Slavery in the Age of Revolution is being screened in observance of International Day of Remembrance of Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade.
Franklin is the third Honorary British Consul for Greater Philadelphia. He has received the Distinguished Friend of Oxford Award and was elected an Honorary Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford, where he studied as a Woodrow Wilson Fellow.
The screening marks the fifth and final installment of the 2024-25 Justice & Equality Film Series. The last film to be featured was Kemba, based on the true story of criminal justice reform advocate Kemba Smith. She was previously sentenced to 24.5 years in prison for her minor role in a drug conspiracy involving her abusive boyfriend.