Harvard University used enslaved labor on its sugar plantations and reaped profits from the slave trade. Richard Cellini, the researcher it hired to identify its enslaved and their descendants, joins us. His team found far more than expected – and it got them fired! Our alma mater sits on a $57 billion endowment. How should it make amends?

SHOW NOTES

Guest: Richard Cellini

Richard Cellini is an attorney and leading scholar of the history of slavery and institutional accountability. He was founding Director of the Harvard Slavery Remembrance Program. He also founded the 10 Million Names Project to recover the names of enslaved Black Americans, and the Georgetown Memory Project.
 

FURTHER READING AND VIEWING:

Harvard Fired Researcher Who Found Too Many Slaves - The Guardian (2025)

Ebony and Ivy: Race, Slavery, and the Troubled History of America’s Universities by Craig Wilder (2013)

Exclusion U (2023): Excellent documentary about Ivy League schools’ hoarding of endowments and lack of accountability in providing public benefit, despite tax-free status.

RICHARD CELLINI’S RELATED WORK:

Georgetown Memory Project

10 Million Names Project

HIGHLIGHTS OF EPISODE

[9:54] Richard Cellini tapped to lead Harvard Slavery Remembrance Program

[13:56] Richard breaks down the numbers of people enslaved by Harvard and their descendants

[22:55] Strong pushback from Harvard officials for “finding too many descendants”

[30:29] Entire team fired with no reasons given

[33:47] Harvard’s non-action and abandonment of project

[39:00] Richard tallies the number of enslaved people and descendants identified

[47:16] Adam and Tony discuss how Harvard could make real reparations

Contact Tony & Adam

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