July 05, 2022

Harvard confronts its historic ties to slavery

31 minutes

This week on Under the Radar:

Harvard pubilshed its “Harvard and the Legacy of Slavery” report back in April, which detailed the institution's clear, historical ties to slavery. That included enslaved individuals on campus, funding from enslavers and dozens of faculty — including past Harvard presidents — who were enslavers themselves.

This was back in the 18th century, but the commercial aspects of slavery is linked in multiple ways today. To begin redressing the university's past involvement with slavery, Harvard has pledged $100 million to create a “Legacy of Slavery Fund.” Other universities, notably Brown, have also been engaged in the work of identifying ties to slavery and how the university benefited. So how will higher education continue to investigate its slavery linked past? And will Harvard's admission move the conversation about higher education and systemic racism?

GUESTS:

Ruth Simmons, president of Prairie View A&M University in Texas. Previously, Simmons served as president of Smith College in Massachusetts and of Brown University in Rhode Island, where she was the first Black woman to preside over an Ivy League school. Simmons began Brown's ongoing research and redress related to its ties to slavery.

Tomiko Brown-Nagin, dean of Harvard Radcliffe Institute, professor of constitutional law at Harvard Law School and professor of history at Harvard University. In 2019, she was appointed chair of the presidential committee on "Harvard and the Legacy of Slavery."

Sven Beckert, Laird Bell Professor of History at Harvard University and a Harvard presidential committee member.

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