The first and best thing the university can do to atone for its past of exploitation and profiteering is simply to renounce its present-day exploitation and profiteering.
slavery
Posted inNews
Harvard Enslaved Over 70 People, New Report Finds
The school announced a $100 million fund to “redress” its legacies with slavery, but holds on to daguerreotypes of Tamara Lanier’s enslaved ancestors.
Posted inPodcast
Tamara Lanier’s Fight for the Photographs of Her Enslaved Ancestors at Harvard
In this episode of the Hyperallergic podcast, Lanier talks about her continuing quest for justice that includes the return of the daguerreotypes depicting her enslaved ancestors.
Posted inArt
Dread Scott Celebrates a Long-forgotten Rebellion as a Moment of Resilience
Merging past and present Scott magnifies what has been reduced in American history to a plaque on a highway.
Posted inNews
London’s National Gallery Identifies 67 Museum Patrons Connected to Slavery
A new report by the museum names the “art collectors, connoisseurs, donors, and founders of museums and galleries across Britain” who benefitted from enslavement.
Posted inArt
The Voices Dawoud Bey Hears
Unless you were already familiar with Bey’s documentary work, the horror he refers to might not be recognizable to you.
Posted inNews
After Student Pressure, Harvard Law School Ditches Logo Connected to Slavery
The former shield featured the family crest of Isaac Royall, Jr., who made his wealth through the labor of enslaved people.
Posted inHistory
What Can Shackled and Beheaded Skeletons Reveal About Roman Servitude?
The mere mention of slavery continues to grab attention, even if the evidence is inconclusive.
Posted inNews
First Online Slavery Database Gets a $1.4M Injection From Mellon Foundation
Enslaved.org houses millions of records related to more than 600,000 enslaved people and their descendants, emancipation activists, and enslavers.
Posted inNews
British Museum Will Move Bust of its Founding Donor, a Colonialist and Slaveowner
Sir Hans Sloane’s bust will be moved from prominent display to a secure cabinet alongside artifacts explaining his work in the context of the British empire.
Posted inArt
Slavery and the Dehumanization of Modern Life
Through texts and objects, Cameron Rowland illuminates the connection between slavery and the commercial structures that define the global economy today.
Posted inArt
The Understudied History of Enslaved Women in Colonial Cape Town
At the Iziko Slave Lodge in Cape Town, an exhibition gives voice to a group of women whose lives were written out of history because they were considered too marginal to bother with.