The Souls of Womenfolk: A Conversation with Alexis Wells-Oghoghomeh

In the eighteenth century, the Royall House and Slave Quarters was home to the largest slaveholding family in Massachusetts and the enslaved Africans who made their lavish way of life possible. Today, the Royall House and Slave Quarters is a museum whose architecture, household items, archaeological artifacts, and programs bear witness to intertwined stories of wealth and bondage, set against the backdrop of America’s quest for independence.The Slave Quarters is the only remaining such structure in the northern United States, and the Royall House is among the finest colonial-era buildings in New England. The museum is open to the public for tours on weekends from June through October, while school and group tours are available from mid-March to mid-November. The museum also presents a range of public programs throughout the year. Members receive free admission to the museum and free or discounted admission to most programs.

Royall House and Slave Quarters

Historian Alexis Wells-Oghoghomeh's book centers African women enslaved in America by exploring their religious roles and rituals.

From the shores of West Africa in the sixteenth century to the U.S. Lower South on the eve of the Civil War, Alexis Wells-Oghoghomeh 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, she documents how bondwomen crafted female-centered cultures that shaped the religious consciousness and practices of entire enslaved communities."One of the most important books in African American religious history of the past decade. . . . The book is a triumph." —Civil War Book Review"An astute unpacking of the experiences of enslaved African American women. . . . This important work will expand academics' understanding of race and religion in the South." —Publishers Weekly, starred review About the Author: Alexis 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. Her first book The Souls of Womenfolk: The Religious Cultures of Enslaved Women in the Lower South offers a gendered history of enslaved people’s religiosity from the colonial period to the onset of the Civil War.She is currently at work on her second project, which traces the gendered, racialized history of phenomena termed "witchcraft" in the United States. Her work has been supported by the Ford Foundation, Mellon Foundation, and Forum for Theological Education, among others. She received her B.A. in English from Spelman College, and Master of Divinity and Ph.D. from Emory University. This in-person program is co-sponsored by Tufts University through the Center for Humanities (CHAT) and by Shiloh Baptist Church in Medford, Massachusetts.

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The Souls of Womenfolk: A Conversation with Alexis Wells-Oghoghomeh

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The Souls of Womenfolk: A Conversation with Alexis Wells-Oghoghomeh

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