This course explores the concept of data as it relates to history and historical memory. It takes up the history of slavery and its legacies as a lens through which to evaluate data – both as a methodology and a product in and of itself.

Like all UVA Engagements courses, this class is designed to serve as an introduction to the liberal arts and sciences and to celebrate learning. This course is part of the Empirical and Scientific Engagement Pillar. That means we are interested in using observable evidence and formal reasoning to learn. However, we’re also going to spend a lot of time thinking about the ethical and practical nature of data as empirical evidence.

Most classes will explore—sometimes through lectures and sometimes through activities or discussion—a particular topic related to the history of slavery in the United States and its relationship to data. Near the end of the course, however, we will consider the relationship between race and data in the present.