Dr. Christy Clark-Pujara, Associate Professor of History at U.W. Madison, will discuss why race matters. Why is there such tension, division and disparities among racial groups in the United States of America, especially among white and black Americans? How and why did blackness and slavery become synonymous? How and why did a nation founded upon liberty and freedom perpetuate human bondage? What are the legacies of race-based slavery in America? These are a few of the questions explored in her presentation. Dr. Clark-Pujara fouces her research on the experiences of black people in French and British North America in the 17th, 18th and early 19th centuries. She contends that the full dimensions of the African American and American experience cannot be appreciated without reference to how black people managed their lives in places where they were few. Dr. Clark has a Ph.D. from the University of Iowa; an M.A. from the University of Iowa; and a B.A. from the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul MN.