{"id":56238,"date":"2021-03-02T00:00:01","date_gmt":"2021-03-02T08:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?p=56238"},"modified":"2021-03-01T11:24:54","modified_gmt":"2021-03-01T19:24:54","slug":"colleges-confront-their-links-to-slavery-and-wrestle-with-how-to-atone-for-past-sins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/colleges-confront-their-links-to-slavery-and-wrestle-with-how-to-atone-for-past-sins\/","title":{"rendered":"Colleges confront their links to slavery and wrestle with how to atone for past sins"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Colleges and universities across the U.S. have been taking a hard look at their ties to slavery.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t an entirely new phenomenon. Back in 2006, Brown University published a report showing that the university \u2013 from its construction to its endowment \u2013\u00a0participated in and benefited from the slave trade and slavery<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And since then, several other colleges and universities have disclosed their ties to the use of slave labor.<\/p>\n

For instance, Johns Hopkins University \u2013 whose namesake and founder has historically been\u00a0portrayed as an abolitionist<\/a>\u00a0\u2013\u00a0reported in December 2020<\/a>\u00a0that its founder actually employed\u00a0four enslaved individuals in his Baltimore household<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At the University of Mississippi, a slavery research group has found that at least\u00a011 enslaved people labored on the campus<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At Georgetown University, officials disclosed in 2016 that one of its presidents \u2013 Thomas Mulledy \u2013\u00a0sold 272 enslaved men, women and children<\/a>\u00a0in 1838\u00a0to save the university from bankruptcy<\/a>. The revelation sparked an effort to track down descendants of the people and to atone by offering\u00a0preferential admission<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 but\u00a0not scholarships<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 for them to study at Georgetown.<\/p>\n

Georgetown University has since committed to raising\u00a0$400,000 a year for reparations<\/a>\u00a0to help the living descendants of enslaved people sold by the school\u2019s president in 1838. But some students have\u00a0criticized the plan<\/a>\u00a0as not going far enough. Meanwhile, implementation has apparently\u00a0stalled<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Action steps debated<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Many universities benefited from slavery, and there has been a growing discussion about what, if anything, universities owe to the descendants of the people they enslaved and what they can do to atone.<\/p>\n

In Virginia, for example, the Virginia House approved\u00a0a bill<\/a>\u00a0to require five state universities founded before 1865 to\u00a0offer economic assistance and four-year scholarships<\/a>\u00a0to descendants of enslaved people who labored on the campuses. The Virginia Senate has yet to take up the measure, known as\u00a0HB 1980<\/a>.<\/p>\n

From my vantage point as a historian of\u00a0slavery, capitalism<\/a>\u00a0and racial inequality, the issue goes beyond whatever \u201cconnections<\/a>\u201d U.S. colleges and universities have had to slavery. Even after slavery, these schools continued to oppress Black people by\u00a0not allowing<\/a>\u00a0them to enroll as students.<\/p>\n

Inequitable access<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Institutions that used slave labor were slow to open to African American students. Georgetown graduated its\u00a0first Black undergraduate<\/a>, Samuel A. Halsey Jr., in\u00a01953<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The University of Virginia graduated its first Black\u00a0undergraduate<\/a>, Robert Bland, in\u00a01959<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Yet admission to traditionally white universities is one piece of the higher education puzzle. Historically Black colleges and universities, commonly known as HBCUs, continue to have an\u00a0outsize role<\/a>\u00a0in ensuring African American upward mobility through higher education. Even though the nation\u2019s\u00a0100 or so<\/a>\u00a0HBCUs represent less than 3% of the nation\u2019s\u00a04,360<\/a>\u00a0colleges and universities, they graduated\u00a013%<\/a>\u00a0of Black undergraduate college students nationally in the 2017-2018 school year.<\/p>\n

And the institutions that tend to enroll\u00a0higher proportions<\/a>\u00a0of historically underrepresented groups \u2013 including African Americans \u2013 also tend to be the\u00a0least well funded<\/a>. That matters because students who attend better-funded colleges tend to\u00a0graduate at higher rates<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Financial disparities<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The disparities transcend higher education. White families, on average, tend to have\u00a010 times the wealth of Black families<\/a>. That\u00a0gap<\/a>\u00a0is likely to grow in part because the\u00a0racial wage gap<\/a>\u00a0is expanding.<\/p>\n

Student loan debt also disproportionately affects Black Americans.<\/p>\n

Four years after they graduate, Black Americans have\u00a0$25,000 more debt<\/a>\u00a0than their white counterparts, in part because of additional graduate borrowing and accrual of interest. Consequently, African Americans face more difficulties\u00a0repaying loans<\/a>\u00a0than their white counterparts.<\/p>\n

Are reparations enough?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Universities are beginning to put resources toward efforts to atone for their roles in slavery.<\/p>\n

The Virginia Theological Seminary is designating\u00a0$1.7 million<\/a>\u00a0as a reparations fund that will be spent on scholarships and new curriculum. Princeton Theological Seminary is contributing a\u00a0$27 million<\/a>\u00a0endowment expected to fund scholarships, community engagement, curriculum development and other efforts to atone for its ties to slavery.
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