The University of Virginia’s 2018 report on the institution’s ownership and treatment of enslaved people centuries ago tells the tale of a 10-year-old black girl who was savagely beaten unconscious in 1856 by Noble Noland, a student who deemed her reply to his questions too insolent.. The attack's prominence in the report is part of an ongoing effort to account for — and atone for — the ways the university encouraged, enabled and profited from slavery.Violence toward blacks was commonplace at many other U.S. institutions of higher learning in the 19th century, when slavery was baked into the crust of society. Enslaved workers endured beatings, rapes and other inhumane treatment while erecting buildings on campus, providing meals, cleaning rooms and otherwise helping these universities and its students ascend to greatness. In recent years, Virginia, Harvard and other schools have acknowledged how they used the labor of enslaved blacks, accepted thousands in contributions from plantation owners and upheld the racist systems that falsely validated the mythology of white supremacy and black inferiority. In 2009, the College of William & Mary, a public university in Virginia, established The Lemon Project: A Journey of Reconciliation which includes symposiums, courses and research into the college’s link to slavery. In 2017, Rutgers University in New Jersey renamed buildings on campus after prominent African Americans including Sojourner Truth, who was once enslaved by the family of a Rutgers president. Following its 2018 report, Virginia founded the Universities Studying Slavery consortium of about 40 schools that share resources while researching their own pasts. In November, Harvard announced a university-wide initiative that would encourage rigorous research into the school’s connections to slavery. “This emphasis will help us build on efforts through the Office for Inclusion and Belonging and across the schools to ensure that discussion and understanding about our past can help us think differently and move us ever closer to a Harvard where all of us can thrive,” wrote university president Lawrence Bacow in an open letter. More than monuments As schools acknowledge their past role in slavery, they also wrestle with the question of reparations. “There’s an interest in repentance and to provide some type of restitution in repenting for an action,” said the Rev. Joseph Thompson, director of multicultural ministries at Virginia Theological Seminary. “In repenting, if some sort of damage has been done, address that.” Politics:In a world full of African American Democrats, black Republicans stand aloneMore:Report: Sen. Mitch McConnell's family owned 14 slaves in AlabamaDiversity? #SiliconValleySoWhite: Black Facebook and Google employees speak out on big tech racismTo help atone for its past use of slave labor to build parts of its Alexandria, Virginia campus, the seminary recently announced a $1.7 million reparations fund to be used to aid the desce
Enslaved labor built these universities. Now they are starting to repay the debt
The University of Virginia’s 2018 report on the institution’s ownership and treatment of enslaved people centuries ago tells the tale of a 10-year-old black girl who was savagely beaten unconscious in 1856 by Noble Noland, a student who deemed her reply to his questions too insolent.. The attack's prominence in the report is part of an ongoing effort to account for — and atone for — the ways the university encouraged, enabled and profited from slavery.Violence toward blacks was commonplace at many other U.S. institutions of higher learning in the 19th century, when slavery was baked into the crust of society. Enslaved workers endured beatings, rapes and other inhumane treatment while erecting buildings on campus, providing meals, cleaning rooms and otherwise helping these universities and its students ascend to greatness. In recent years, Virginia, Harvard and other schools have acknowledged how they used the labor of enslaved blacks, accepted thousands in contributions from plantation owners and upheld the racist systems that falsely validated the mythology of white supremacy and black inferiority. In 2009, the College of William & Mary, a public university in Virginia, established The Lemon Project: A Journey of Reconciliation which includes symposiums, courses and research into the college’s link to slavery. In 2017, Rutgers University in New Jersey renamed buildings on campus after prominent African Americans including Sojourner Truth, who was once enslaved by the family of a Rutgers president. Following its 2018 report, Virginia founded the Universities Studying Slavery consortium of about 40 schools that share resources while researching their own pasts. In November, Harvard announced a university-wide initiative that would encourage rigorous research into the school’s connections to slavery. “This emphasis will help us build on efforts through the Office for Inclusion and Belonging and across the schools to ensure that discussion and understanding about our past can help us think differently and move us ever closer to a Harvard where all of us can thrive,” wrote university president Lawrence Bacow in an open letter. More than monuments As schools acknowledge their past role in slavery, they also wrestle with the question of reparations. “There’s an interest in repentance and to provide some type of restitution in repenting for an action,” said the Rev. Joseph Thompson, director of multicultural ministries at Virginia Theological Seminary. “In repenting, if some sort of damage has been done, address that.” Politics:In a world full of African American Democrats, black Republicans stand aloneMore:Report: Sen. Mitch McConnell's family owned 14 slaves in AlabamaDiversity? #SiliconValleySoWhite: Black Facebook and Google employees speak out on big tech racismTo help atone for its past use of slave labor to build parts of its Alexandria, Virginia campus, the seminary recently announced a $1.7 million reparations fund to be used to aid the desce
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