Junius P. Rodriguez

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Junius Rodriguez
Personal details
Political party Democratic
Education Nicholls State University (BA)
Louisiana State University (MA)
Auburn University (PhD)

Junius P. Rodriguez is a professor of history at Eureka College in Eureka, Illinois, who has been the general editor of multiple major reference books on the history of slavery in the United States and the world, as well as related topics such as black history and abolitionism. His work on the history of slavery was acclaimed as "outstanding" by other scholars and by librarians, who have recommended it as part of the core collection for every academic library[ citation needed ] and many public libraries as well.

Contents

In July 2017, Rodriguez announced his candidacy for the U.S. House representing Illinois's 18th congressional district in the 2018 U.S. federal midterm election, [1] but lost to incumbent Republican Darin LaHood.

Career

Rodriguez grew up in Louisiana. After earning his B.A. from Nicholls State University (1979), he taught in the public school system of Lafourche Parish, Louisiana, for nearly a decade. Rodriguez served a term as Parish Councilman in Lafourche Parish from 1979-1983. [2]

Rodriguez earned his M.A. from Louisiana State University (1987), and Ph.D. from Auburn University (1992). [3] [4] Rodriguez has been a professor of history at Eureka College since 1992. [5] John Greenfieldt and Patrice Bartell recommended his Encyclopedia of Slave Resistance and Rebellion for public library core collections. [6]

Rodriguez consulted on the development of the documentary Human Bondage, which aired as part of the History Channel's History's Mysteries series in 2000. [3] In 2002, he helped draw national attention to the 500th anniversary of the beginning of the transatlantic slave trade. Journalist DeWayne Wickham described his efforts as "a perfect teachable moment for discussion and reflection" that was fitting for the event. [7] [8]

Rodriguez unsuccessfully challenged incumbent Republican congressman Darin LaHood of Illinois's 18th congressional district in 2016, running as a Democrat. He won 27.9% of the vote to LaHood's 72.1%. [9] His number of votes was the second most ever earned by a Democrat in the Illinois 18th District, despite running as a vacancy appointment on a shortened campaign schedule.

Works

In 2000, Chronology of World Slavery, was included in "Outstanding reference sources 2000", from the American Library Association.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slavery</span> Ownership of people as property

Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavement is the placement of a person into slavery, and the person is called a slave or an enslaved person.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abolitionism</span> Movement to end slavery

Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery and liberate slaves around the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Atlantic slave trade</span> Slave trade – 16th to 19th centuries

The Atlantic slave trade or transatlantic slave trade involved the transportation by slave traders of enslaved African people, mainly to the Americas. The outfitted European slave ships of the slave trade regularly used the triangular trade route and its Middle Passage, and existed from the 16th to the 19th centuries. The vast majority of those who were transported in the transatlantic slave trade were from Central and West Africa who had been sold by West African slave traders to European slave traders, while others had been captured directly by the slave traders in coastal raids; European slave traders gathered and imprisoned the enslaved at forts on the African coast and then brought them to the Americas. Except for the Portuguese, European slave traders generally did not participate in the raids because life expectancy for Europeans in sub-Saharan Africa was less than one year during the period of the slave trade. Portuguese coastal raiders found that slave raiding was too costly and often ineffective and opted for established commercial relations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves</span> US Congressional Act of 1807

The Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves of 1807 is a United States federal law that prohibited the importation of slaves into the United States. It took effect on January 1, 1808, the earliest date permitted by the United States Constitution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1807 in Canada</span> List of events

Events from the year 1807 in Canada.

<i>Lei Áurea</i> 1888 law abolishing slavery in Brazil

The Lei Áurea, officially Law No. 3,353 of 13 May 1888, is the law that abolished slavery in Brazil. It was signed by Isabel, Princess Imperial of Brazil (1846–1921), an opponent of slavery, who acted as regent to Emperor Pedro II, who was in Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Compensated emancipation</span> Form of abolishing slavery in which former slaveowners were paid

Compensated emancipation was a method of ending slavery, under which the enslaved person's owner received compensation from the government in exchange for manumitting the slave. This could be monetary, and it could allow the owner to retain the slave for a period of labor as an indentured servant. In practice, cash compensation rarely was equal to the slave's market value.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline of abolition of slavery and serfdom</span>

The abolition of slavery occurred at different times in different countries. It frequently occurred sequentially in more than one stage – for example, as abolition of the trade in slaves in a specific country, and then as abolition of slavery throughout empires. Each step was usually the result of a separate law or action. This timeline shows abolition laws or actions listed chronologically. It also covers the abolition of serfdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline of events leading to the American Civil War</span> Summary from 1607 to 1861

This timeline of events leading to the American Civil War is a chronologically ordered list of events and issues that historians recognize as origins and causes of the American Civil War. These events are roughly divided into two periods: the first encompasses the gradual build-up over many decades of the numerous social, economic, and political issues that ultimately contributed to the war's outbreak, and the second encompasses the five-month span following the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States in 1860 and culminating in the capture of Fort Sumter in April 1861.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Slave Route Project</span> UNESCO initiative

The Slave Route Project is a UNESCO initiative that was officially launched in 1994 in Ouidah, Benin. It is rooted in the mandate of the organization, which believes that ignorance or concealment of major historical events constitutes an obstacle to mutual understanding, reconciliation and cooperation among peoples. The project breaks the silence surrounding the slave trade and slavery that has affected all continents and caused great upheavals that have shaped our modern societies. In studying the causes, the modalities and the consequences of slavery and the slave trade, the project seeks to enhance the understanding of diverse histories and heritages stemming from this global tragedy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abolitionism in the United Kingdom</span> Movement to end slavery

Abolitionism in the United Kingdom was the movement in the late 18th and early 19th centuries to end the practice of slavery, whether formal or informal, in the United Kingdom, the British Empire and the world, including ending the Atlantic slave trade. It was part of a wider abolitionism movement in Western Europe and the Americas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slavery in the Byzantine Empire</span>

Slavery was common in the early Roman Empire and Classical Greece. It was legal in the Byzantine Empire but it was transformed significantly from the 4th century onward as slavery came to play a diminished role in the economy. Laws gradually diminished the power of slaveholders and improved the rights of slaves by restricting a master’s right to abuse, prostitute, expose, and murder slaves. Slavery became rare after the first half of 7th century. From 11th century, semi-feudal relations largely replaced slavery. Under the influence of Christianity, views of slavery shifted: by the 10th century slaves were viewed as potential citizens, rather than property or chattel. Slavery was also seen as "an evil contrary to nature, created by man's selfishness", although it remained legal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slavery in China</span>

Slavery in China has taken various forms throughout history. Slavery was nominally abolished in 1910, although the practice continued until at least 1949. The Chinese term for slave (nuli) can also be roughly translated into 'debtor', 'dependent', or 'subject'. Despite a few attempts to ban it, slavery existed continuously throughout pre-modern China, sometimes serving a key role in politics, economics, and historical events. However slaves in China were a very small part of the population due to a large peasant population that mitigated the need for large scale slave labor. The slave population included war prisoners and kidnapped victims or people who had been sold.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samba rebellion</span>

The Samba rebellion was a purported slave rebellion, described by the French historian Antoine-Simon Le Page du Pratz in his Histoire de la Louisiane. The revolt is said to have taken place in 1731, in what was then French Louisiana. Contemporary with the Natchez revolt, it was personified to its alleged leader, an enslaved man called "Samba Bambara". While Le Page du Pratz gives a brief recollection of the events, which was more a conspiracy to revolt rather than an actual revolt, his information is not verified by any existent official documents.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of slavery in Louisiana</span> Regional history of slavery in the USA

Following Robert Cavelier de La Salle establishing the French claim to the territory and the introduction of the name Louisiana, the first settlements in the southernmost portion of Louisiana were developed at present-day Biloxi (1699), Mobile (1702), Natchitoches (1714), and New Orleans (1718). Slavery was then established by European colonists.

Hermosa was an American slave ship whose 1840 grounding in the Bahamas led to a controversy between the United Kingdom and the United States over the 38 slaves who had been on board the ship and were freed by the British authorities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Evan Hall</span> Historic house in Louisiana, United States

Evan Hall is a former sugarcane plantation in Donaldsonville, Louisiana, U.S. It was established for the production of sugar by Evan Jones, a merchant and politician, by 1807.

<i>Commonwealth v. Aves</i> 1836 freedom suit in Massachusetts

Commonwealth v. Aves, 35 Mass. 193 (1836), was a case in the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court on the subject of transportation of slaves to free states. In August 1836, Chief Justice Lemuel Shaw ruled that slaves brought to Massachusetts "for any temporary purpose of business or pleasure" were entitled to freedom. The case was the most important legal victory for abolitionists in the 1830s and set a major precedent throughout the North.

Seneca the Younger's Letter 47 of his Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium, sometimes known as On Master and Slave or On Slavery, is an essayistic look at dehumanization in the context of slavery in ancient Rome. It was a criticism of aspects of Roman slavery, without outright opposition to it, and had a favorable later reception by Enlightenment philosophers and subsequently the 19th century abolitionist movement. Conversely, the text has also been seen as a proslavery apologia, as well as in the light of the Stoic philosophical idea that "all men are slaves".

Compensated emancipation in the United States, sometimes reparations for slave owners, was the concept of paying slave owners for their slaves as a path to eventual total abolition.

References

  1. Vlahos, Nick. "Nick in the AM: Junius Rodriguez to run for Congress again". pjstar.com. Archived from the original on November 26, 2018. Retrieved January 13, 2018.
  2. "Louisiana's Road to the Future," The Daily Comet, Sept. 22, 1987.
  3. 1 2 Contemporary Authors, Vol. 170, p. 359; Contemporary Authors New Revised Series, Vol. 125, p.304
  4. "Rodriguez CV". Archived from the original on July 19, 2011. Retrieved March 15, 2011.
  5. "Eureka College profile". Archived from the original on October 31, 2016. Retrieved October 30, 2016.
  6. John Greenfieldt and Patrice Bartell, Public library core collection: a selection guide to reference books and adult nonfiction (2008) p. 206.
  7. DeWayne Wickham, "Sad Anniversary Needs Reflection," USA Today, March 31, 2002
  8. Lewis W. Diuguid, Discovering the Real America: Toward A More Perfect Union (Boca Raton, FL: BrownWalker Press, 2007), p. 162.
  9. "Illinois General Election 2016". Illinois State Board of Elections. November 8, 2016. Archived from the original on March 27, 2019. Retrieved December 13, 2016.
  10. Hupp, Stephen L.; Kohl, David F. Reference & User Services Quarterly, Fall 1998, Vol. 38 Issue 1, p96-96;
  11. John K. Thornton, The Journal of Southern History, Vol. 65, No. 3 (Aug., 1999), pp. 604-605 "On the whole, however, this is a valuable resource, and one that repays curious browsing as well as focused research. It is well worthwhile for small libraries to pay the asking price for these large and handsome volumes"
  12. Journal of Southern History, Feb. 2002, Vol. 68 Issue 1, p246-47 Archived January 28, 2008, at the Wayback Machine ;
  13. Stratton, Steve. Booklist, 8/1/2007, Vol. 103 Issue 22, p 102 Archived November 15, 2007, at the Wayback Machine ;
  14. John Greenfieldt and Patrice Bartell, Public library core collection: a selection guide to reference books and adult nonfiction (2008) p. 206 "provides a solid examination of the history of resistance to slavery and begins to examine some of the cultural issues that both maintained slavery and downplayed resistance….The text will serve as a good accompaniment to reference materials on slavery, so that readers understand that with slavery went resistance. It is recommended for public and academic libraries."
  15. Glantz, Shelley. Library Media Connection, Oct 2007, Vol. 26 Issue 2, p91;
  16. Against the Grain, November 2007, p. 65;