Harvard University on Tuesday published a 130-page report revealing its dark history of ties to slavery. Here’s everything you need to know.
Harvard University report linking itself to slavery
On Tuesday, Harvard University released an official report tieing staff and faculty to slavery. “Harvard officials, faculty, staff, and patrons enslaved people, some of whom worked at the university; amassed riches through the slave trade and slave labor; and maintained the institution of slavery,” stated the report. “Over nearly 150 years, from the university’s founding in 1636 until the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court found slavery unlawful in 1783, Harvard presidents and other leaders, as well as its faculty and staff, enslaved more than 70 individuals, some of whom labored on campus,” states the report. “Enslaved men and women served Harvard presidents and professors and fed and cared for Harvard students,” it added.
Lawrence S. Bacow, the current president stated that the university will be spending $100 million to repair its reputation. As per an email address to its students, staff, and faculty, the university is setting aside the money for an endowment fund in addition to other steps to reduce or close the disparities caused due to racism and slavery. This is one of the biggest funds aimed at redressing the wrongs of the past. Additionally, discussions on race and stave trade and intensifying across the US. Several students are demanding that the names of people involved in the slave trade be removed from the university buildings.
What are the major findings?
As per the report, the university owes its tremendous wealth to benefactors who built their fortunes on the backs of people they enslaved. Tomiko Brown-Nagin presides the panel. Brown-Nagin is the head of the university’s interdisciplinary Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. They are an expert in constitutional law and legal history.
The state of Massachusetts prohibits slavery since 1783. However, this was 147 years following the establishment of Harvard University. The report also focuses on the layout of the history of slavery with slaves toiling on campus. It also sheds light on the university gaining profit from the slave trade and industries linked to slavery. Additionally, Harvard also excludes Black students and has scholars who advocate racism, according to the report.
