Harvard University to spend $100 million to redress its slavery ties

Harvard University said it is committing $ 100 million to study and repair the historic ties of the Ivy League institution with slavery, with a new report that found that the staff and early teaching staff of the 386-year-old school enslaved more than 70 people.

Harvard President Larry Bacow on Tuesday announced the historic pledge, along with the release of the more than 100-page report on the institution’s legacy of slavery. The report also included recommendations for repairs by a special committee formed to study the issue.

Bacow noted that Harvard had relied heavily on slavery for nearly 150 years after its founding in 1636, with several of the university’s presidents including those who enslaved others. The enslaved individuals “worked and lived on campus, where they cared for Harvard presidents and professors and fed generations of Harvard students,” the report notes.

“As the committee’s report powerfully documents, Harvard’s history includes extensive entanglements with slavery,” Bacow wrote in a message to the Harvard community. “The report makes it clear that slavery in America was not limited in any way to the South.”

He added: “It was embedded in the fabric and institutions of the North, and remained legal in Massachusetts until the Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional in 1783.”

The university also benefited from financial ties with donors who amassed their wealth through the slave trade, according to the report.

The damage caused by Harvard’s links to slavery should be addressed through “action,” the report notes. The report includes comprehensive recommendations, such as identifying the direct descendants of people enslaved at Harvard and associating with historically black colleges and universities, among other steps.

Some of the $ 100 million will be available immediately, and the balance will remain in an endowment to support the work of the university over time.

Persistent discrimination

Discriminatory practices persisted on the Harvard campus even after slavery was abolished in the United States in 1865. The university limited the presence of black students on the Harvard campus through racial segregation and exclusion. last until well into the 20th century, according to the report.

For example, the report found that about 160 black men enrolled at Harvard in a 50-year period between 1890 and 1940, or about 3 black students per year. “Such a small number often left black men isolated and marginalized on campus,” the report said.

Harvard is part of a consortium of 50 schools, including Georgetown and Brown University, that are committed to addressing the role that slavery played in the past of its institutions.

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