Harvard University has made a promise to spend $100 million to research and atone for its extensive ties to slavery in its early history. University president Lawrence Bacow made the announcement in April, following a school-produced report that documented the ways in which the school benefited from the salve trade and perpetuated racial inequality.
Harvard is both the oldest and wealthiest college in the nation, and it joins a long line of universities that are only now starting to reckon with their past and begin to make amends. According to the report, Harvard’s faculty, staff and leadership enslaved more than 70 Black and Native American people between the years of 1636 and 1783. The study notes that that figure is almost certainly a low estimate. Historical records helped identify dozens of people by name.
“Enslaved men and women served Harvard presidents and professors and fed and cared for Harvard students,” researchers found. “Moreover, throughout this period and well into the 19th century, the University and its donors benefited from extensive financial ties to slavery.”
The report recommends that the school make some form of reparation, such as “a significant monetary commitment, and it should invest in remedies of equal or greater breadth than other universities.” Further, the report details how the school relied on the slave trade for profits over the span of decades. Bacow is creating a committee to implement the suggestions from the report.
