Forgotten No Longer: Universities and Slavery in Twenty-First-Century Scholarship and Memory

Abstract

Abstract: Just twenty years ago, little was known about the connections between universities and slavery—few understood that universities had been founded and funded by slave owners and others who made their fortunes through the transatlantic slave trade. This essay examines several excellent books and articles on slavery and universities that have created a new subfield within the historiography of American slavery. This new body of work has focused on three main themes: the economic benefits enjoyed by universities from the donations of men who profited from slavery, the role of universities in promoting proslavery ideology, and the use of slaves by universities to work on their campuses and fund their educational missions. This research has led to calls for institutional apologies for slavery, memorialization of slaves who worked on campuses, and reparations for the descendants of these slaves; it is literally reshaping the physical and ideological landscape of many American universities.