Yesterday, Harvard University announced the establishment of a fund to fund research, education and remembrance projects on racism and slavery from the 17th to the 19th centuries in the United States. The goal is to “fix” the country’s slave memory after a report shows the institution has helped bolster racist theories in the past.
The announcement was made in a letter published by the university’s president, Lawrence Bacow, to the students, professors and staff at the institution, founded in 1636 in Cambridge, Massachusetts in the United States.
The initiative is part of a movement to recognize and eliminate slavery in the country that has been gaining strength in the university environment in recent years. Slavery was officially abolished by the 13th Amendment in December 1865. According to Bacow, “slavery and its legacy have been a part of American history for more than 400 years. Years to come,” he explained.
The decision came after the release of a report by the university board that proposed recommendations for financial “redress” for the exploitation of generations of millions of people who were forcibly deported to America from Africa and Europe.
The document shows, for example, that until the 20th century university presidents and professors taught and promoted racial theories such as eugenics, a practice that advocated “improving” the human race through genetic selection. At Harvard, various members and presidents enslaved more than 70 people in the 17th and 18th centuries until the practice was outlawed in Massachusetts in 1783.
Institution protected eugenics theses
As an example of what happened at the institution, Tamara Lanier, an American who claims to be a descendant of slaves, sued the university in 2019 for photographing 1,850 members of her family. The images were used by the famous biologist Louis Agassiz (18071873), known for his work on polar ice caps but also for his racist theories aimed at proving white supremacy.
According to Tamara Lanier, her ancestors, known as Renty and Delia, would have been forced to pose nude for an Agassiz project. The professor’s goal was to prove the biological inferiority of blacks. “Harvard exploited and in some ways continued to exploit deeply immoral practices,” the institution’s president said. He acknowledged that the university has a “moral responsibility” to fund research projects that would help mitigate the harmful social and personal effects caused by such practices.
Other institutions are joining the initiative
Racism is inherent in American society and its consequences are being felt, as evidenced by the Black Lives Matter movement, which gained visibility following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, who was killed by a white police officer.
Other institutions besides Harvard have taken similar initiatives to “pay off” their historic slaveryrelated debts. Last year, leaders of the Jesuit Priests’ Conference defended the provision of $100 million in compensation for the descendants of slaves owned by the religious order.
In 2019, Georgetown University students approved a fund to benefit the descendants of slaves sold by the elite 19thcentury Jesuit school. Brown and Columbia universities also admitted to having participated in the slave trade.
(RFI and AFP)