Addressing Universities’ Historic Ties to Slavery Hannah Wasco | Graduate School of Education and Human Development

Universities’ Historic Ties to Slavery Responding to History Social Justice Approach • Over the past 20 years, there has been a growing movement of Apologies: Should include an acknowledgment of the offense, acceptance of responsibility, expression of A social justice approach– encompassing both distributive and procedural universities in the United States acknowledging and addressing their regret, and a commitment to non-repetition of the offense. While some scholars say the single act of an justice– provides a framework for universities to both authentically historic ties to slavery. apology is enough, others argue that it is necessary to consider an apology as a process with no end point. address their historic ties to slavery and effectively correct present • Historical records irrefutably demonstrate that early American higher ------systems of racism and oppression on campus. education institutions permitted, protracted, and profited from the Reparations: Most often understood as money, reparations can also come in the form of land, education, ------African slave trade. mental health services, employment opportunities, and the creation of monuments and museums. Distributive Justice: American universities benefited directly and o Slaves constructed buildings, cleaned students’ rooms, and prepared However, discussions of reparations must be aware of the risk of “commodifying” suffering and falling into indirectly from the enslavement of human beings; social justice not only meals; slave labor on adjoining plantations funded endowments and the “one-time payment trap.” calls for the recognition of this historic inequity, but also demands that scholarships; and slaves were sold for profit and to repay debts. ------distributive justice be used to ensure the equitable distribution of • Even outside of the direct exploitation of slaves, both northern and Memorialization: Universities have created memorials on campus, renamed buildings, published booklets, benefits today. southern universities benefited greatly from the antebellum slave hosted national conferences, and have established research centers to further study their institutional ------economy. histories, as well as the continuing effects of slavery today. In addition to preserving the experiences of the Procedural Justice: Universities who are serious about authentically victims, memorialization should also include reconsidering the veneration of the offenders. revisiting their pasts and effectively addressing present day inequities on campus must use processes that are neutral and that invite equal input from all concerned parties. Research Methods • Research began with the selection of peer-reviewed articles on the topic. Challenges and Critiques • Several of the institutions addressed in this research—including Challenges: Arguments against institutional apologies for slavery typically fall into one of two categories: Implications • Georgetown University—have public-accessible online archives of 1) the current generation is not responsible for past crimes, and 2) an apology would dishonor the memory The American university is uniquely situated to engage in this task of sources regarding their histories with slavery. the university. critical self-examination and action. • o One of the key sources and motivation behind this chosen topic was ------Academic freedom and the pursuit of truth, objective study, Craig Steven Wilder’s (2014) Ebony and Ivy: Race, Slavery, and the Critiques: Slavery’s legacy of systematic oppression has prompted decolonial and critical race scholars to active discussion, pride in tradition, and its value of historical Troubled History of America’s Universities, a groundbreaking and detailed examine how some institutional responses are limited in their ability to identify or disrupt inequitable continuity are characteristics that both aid and compel a narration of the ways in which higher education institutions in the United structures in higher education. Within the university, the continuing effects of slavery can be seen in the university to reckon with its ties to slavery. • States benefited from and defended the African slave trade and the racial discrimination and unrest on campuses, the gentrification of predominantly Black neighborhoods The university must address its historic ties to slavery and it must take colonization of Native Americans. surrounding campuses, and the inequitable compensation of Black university employees. responsibility for correcting slavery’s legacy of systematic oppression, ------both for its own sake and for that of the nation. • The research presented in this project was conducted for and utilized in a ------literature review and an analytical paper. “The philosophical mission of universities thus encourages, and perhaps • None of the ideas or information are original to the presenter, with the necessitates, engagement with the history of universities and slavery… exception of the application of a social justice approach to universities If the university fails to understand and address its own history, it fails addressing their ties to slavery and its effects today. to live up to its own mission.” -- Lindsey K. Walters (2017), p. 729 ------“If this nation is ever to have a serious dialogue about slavery, Jim Crow, Georgetown and the 1838 Sale and the bitter legacies they have bequeathed us, then universities must provide the leadership.” • At the start of the 19th century, the Maryland Jesuits were one of the largest planters in the -- Brown University Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice (2007), p. 89 state. However, by the 1830s, profits from the slave labor began to decrease; at the same time, the Jesuit’s flagship school—Georgetown University (then College)—was taking on increasing amounts of debt. Select References • In 1838, Thomas Mulledy, Georgetown’s president, and William McSherry, the Jesuit superior Beckert, S., & Stevens, K. (2011). Harvard and slavery: Seeking a forgotten history. Boston, MA: Harvard University Press. of the Maryland province, arranged for the sale of 272 slaves to two Louisiana businessmen for Brown University Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice. (2007). Slavery and justice: Report of the Brown University Steering $115,000. Committee on Slavery and Justice. Providence, RI: Brown University. Clarke, M., & Fine, G. A. (2010). “A” for apology: Slavery and the discourse of remonstrance in two American universities. History & • The majority of the profits from the sale were used to save Georgetown from bankruptcy. Memory, 22(1) 81–112. ------Georgetown University Working Group on Slavery, Memory, and Reconciliation. (2016). Report of the Working Group on Slavery, Memory, and Reconciliation to the president of Georgetown University. Washington, DC: Georgetown University. • In 2016, Georgetown University announced that it will offer “legacy status” to descendants of Meyers, T. L. (2013). Thinking about slavery at the College of William and Mary. William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal, 21(4), 1215-1258. the 272 slaves who were sold in 1838. This status gives applicants the same preferential Oast, J. (2016). Institutional slavery: Slaveholding churches, schools, colleges, and businesses in Virginia, 1680-1860. New York: Cambridge treatment in the admissions process as the children of faculty, staff, and alumni. University Press. Reason, R. D., Broido, E. M., Davis, T. L., & Evans, N. J. (Eds.). (2005). Developing social justice allies. New Directions for Student Services, • The university has also permanently renamed two campus buildings once known as Mulledy No. 110. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. and McSherry Halls after Isaac Hawkins and Anne Marie Becraft. Stein, S. (2016). Universities, slavery, and the unthought of anti-Blackness. Cultural Dynamics, 28(2), 169–187. o Hawkins was the first enslaved person listed in the 1838 sale agreement (see right), and Walters, L. K. (2017). Slavery and the American university: Discourses of retrospective justice at Harvard and Brown. Slavery & Abolition, 38(4), 719-744. Becraft was a free woman of color and educator in the Georgetown neighborhood. Wilder, C. S. (2014). Ebony and ivy: Race, slavery, and the troubled history of America’s universities. New York: Bloomsbury Press.