Concepts of space and place are embedded in cultural narratives and discourses that shape our understanding of who belongs and who is considered an outsider, our ideas of possession and dispossession, our conception of social and cultural heartlands and frontiers.

“The limited sources we had on Mason were an opportunity to use him and his legacy as a teaching tool, to help students learn and engage critically with the complexities of the past,” said George Oberle, director of the Center for Mason Legacies ... [T]his is where the real learning begins for George Mason students."

CML work appears twice in the newest Journal of Slavery and Data Preservation (JSDP). The journal's September 2025 issue (Volume 6 Issue 3) features articles by doctoral student David Armstrong, co-authored by CML Director George Oberle. and faculty affiliate Sheri Ann Huerta, PhD. From slaveholding data almost by definition dehumanizing, the authors hope "to restore some of the personhood to the generations of people enslaved" in Virginia.