Speaker: Professor Selwayn Cudjoe, Wellesley College

Monday, February 25, 2019 5:30-7:00 p.m., Fusco Hall, Marist College, Choir Room, MU 3201

William Hardin Burnley (1780-1850) was the largest slave owner in Trinidad during the nineteenth century. Born in the United States to English parents, Burnley settled on the island in 1802 and became one of its most influential citizens and a prominent agent of the British Empire. As a central figure among the elite and moneyed transnational slave owners, Burnley moved easily through the Atlantic world of the Caribbean, the United States, Great Britain, and Europe. He counted among his friends Alexis de Tocqueville, British politician Joseph Hume, and Prime Minister William Glasgow. This lecture will examine Burnley’s life as it relates to his activities in these countries especially particularly his relationship to the United States.