Harvard and the Legacy of Slavery at Harvard University

Harvard and the Legacy of Slavery at Harvard University

Harvard University

Overview

On November 21, 2019 Harvard made an announcement:

'' Today, I am pleased to announce the formation of a new university-wide initiative on Harvard and the Legacy of Slavery, which will build on the important work undertaken thus far, provide greater structure and cohesion to a wide array of university efforts, and give additional dimension to our understanding of the impact of slavery. This work will allow us to continue to understand and address the enduring legacy of slavery within our university community."

Harvard's ties to slavery were never a secret. Today, however, they're hardly common knowledge on campus and they're generally not reflected in official histories of the university.

That started to change in 2007, when Sven Beckert, a professor of American history, taught a seminar with four Harvard undergraduates. Their mission: dig into the school's archival records to see what traces of slavery they could find. Beckert had been inspired by Simmons' commitment at Brown.

They soon discovered that prominent Harvard figures — including the Puritan Minister Cotton Mather and the Declaration of Independence signatory John Hancock — were slave owners. "In some ways we were surprised by what we found," Beckert says. "Of course, it was ridiculous that we were surprised, because clearly the economy of New England was deeply engaged with the slave economy."

Harvard's ties to slavery were never a secret. They had memorials commemorating the lives and contributions of enslaved individuals that were installed at Wadsworth House and Harvard Law School; a faculty committee convened by President Faust initiated research on the university’s historical ties to slavery through work with the Harvard Archives and other university collections; the university hosted and joined academic collaborations and conferences with peers from across higher education; and numerous classes, seminars, exhibitions, performances, and discussions have taken place across our campus.

By: Jessica Redd

11 February 2020

Colleges, Slavery, and Memorialization

March 20, 2019: Story breaks about Harvard being sued for selling slave pictures.

Continued...

They found some markers of slavery around the campus hidden in plain sight. They found 2 headstones for Jane and Cicely in a cemetery next to the university. These 2 headstones were more intricate then the other ones so that showed that they cared for the deceased. They were given better headstones because of their loyal service to prominent Harvard men.

One reads: "Here lyes the body of Cicely, Negro, late servant to the Reverend Minister William Brattle; she died April 8, 1714. Being 15 years old."

The other: "Jane a Negro servant to Andrew Bordman Esquire Died 1740/1 Aged 22 years & three months."

Works Cited

• APM Reports. “Shackled Legacy: Universities and the Slave Trade.” Apmreports.Org, 2017, www.apmreports.org/story/2017/09/04/shackled-legacy. Accessed 12 Feb. 2020.

• “Harvard.” Harvard University, 21 Nov. 2019, www.harvard.edu/president/news/2019/initiative-on-harvard-and-legacy-slavery. Accessed 12 Feb. 2020.

• Wikipedia Contributors. “Harvard University.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 19 Feb. 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_University.

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Harvard Connection to Slavery

Harvard University

How Harvard came to be

"Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with about 6,800 undergraduate students and about 14,000 postgraduate students. Established in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, clergyman John Harvard, Harvard is the United States' oldest institution of higher learning.[7] Its history, influence, wealth, and academic reputation have made it one of the most prestigious universities in the world.[8][9][10][11][12][13]"

Slavery and the slave economy thread through the first 150 years of its history. Slaves made beds and meals for Harvard presidents. The sons of wealthy Southern plantation owners became prominent men on campus. And many of the school's major donors in its first centuries made their fortunes in industries either based on, or connected to, slavery.

Sugar plantations in the Caribbean devoted most of their land to growing cane. They imported grain, meat, codfish and other supplies from New England. Ship owners in New England hauled back barrels of molasses to make rum. Then they shipped the rum to Africa to pay for slaves. New England merchants used part of the profits from this triangular trade to finance Harvard and other schools.

- John Harvard