Giving Voice, the annual benefit event for the Royall House & Slave Quarters, will feature a talk by historian Hasan Kwame Jeffries about his work with “Teaching Hard History: American Slavery,” an educational initiative of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Teaching Tolerance Project.

Jeffries, associate professor of history at Ohio State University and author of “Bloody Lowndes: Civil Rights and Black Power in Alabama’s Black Belt,” chairs the advisory committee for the Teaching Tolerance project and hosts the “Teaching Hard History” podcast. This initiative—based on survey findings that American students lack a basic knowledge of the important role slavery played in shaping our nation and the impact it continues to have on race relations in America—includes a comprehensive free guide for teaching and learning this critical topic at the middle and high school levels.

Jeffries will team up with educator/historian Dr. Bethany Jay of Salem State University to offer a special workshop on teaching American slavery to local K-12 classroom teachers prior to the Giving Voice event, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The museum’s annual benefit event supports the continued preservation and interpretation of the Royall House and Slave Quarters, site of the only freestanding slave quarters in the Northern United States and a testament to the complex history of slavery and meanings of freedom in America. The event on the museum grounds will include refreshments and tours.

Giving Voice tickets are $40 for RH&SQ members, $50 for nonmembers and may be ordered through the Giving Voice Eventbrite page.