Join author and scholar Jennie Lightweis-Goff at the historic Pharmacy Museum for a reading from her latest book, Captive City: Meditations on Slavery in the Urban South, followed by a book signing and reception. Guests will have access to the courtyard and both floors of the museum. Nonalcoholic drinks will be provided.*

Captive City explores the paths of slavery in coastal cities, arguing that captivity haunts the “hospitality” cultures of Charleston, New Orleans, Savannah, and Baltimore. It is not a history of urban slavery, but a literary reflection that argues for coastal cities as a distinct region that scrambles time, resisting the “post” in postindustrial and the “neo” in neoliberalism. Lightweis-Goff offers a cultural exploration bound by American literature, especially life-writing by the enslaved, as well as compelling reassessments of works by canonical writers such as Frederick Douglass, Harriet Jacobs, and Hector St. John de Crevecoeur. Lightweis-Goff reveals how the preserved yet fragile landscapes of these cities are haunted—not simply by the ghost tours that are signature stops for travelers in their historic districts—but by the echoes of slavery in their economies and built environments.

*Although this event is free and open to the public, reservations are required due to capacity limitations.