The Royall House & Slave Quarters invites you to a special Black History Month book talk with historian and author Alexis Wells- Oghoghomeh. Her 2021 book “The Souls of Womenfolk: The Religious Cultures of Enslaved Women in the Lower South” traces a bold history of the interior lives of bondwomen as they carved out an existence for themselves and their families amid the horrors of American slavery. With particular attention to maternity, sex, and other gendered aspects of women’s lives, “The Souls of Womenfolk” documents how bondwomen crafted female-centered cultures that shaped the religious consciousness and practices of entire enslaved communities.

Wells-Oghoghomeh is an assistant professor of religious studies at Stanford University whose teaching and research explores the intersections of race, religion and gender in the United States. A historian of African American religion, she specializes in the religiosity of enslaved people in the South, religion in the African Atlantic, and women’s religious histories.

This program is co-sponsored by Tufts University through the Center for the Humanities and by Shiloh Baptist Church in West Medford. Register through Eventbrite.