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In reply to the discussion: Salon: The “original sin” of the Southern political class is cheap, powerless labor [View all]HiPointDem
(20,729 posts)Harvard University was the first institution of higher learning in colonial America. Founded in 1636 as a training ground for aspiring ministers, it capitalized on this early start and became during the nineteenth century the nations most influential university, and by the middle of the twentieth century, arguably the worlds. Not surprisingly, then, Harvards four centuries long career is tightly connected to the history of New England, the United States and the Atlantic World on whose most dynamic eastern edge it was perched. Notwithstanding a deafening silence on the topic in most remembrances of this great university, Harvards history entails a whole range of connections to slavery.
This site is a result of investigations Harvard students made into this forgotten part of the Universitys history.
http://www.harvardandslavery.com/
We're marking Black History Month with a look at the ties Ivy League universities have to slavery. Though slavery is still largely considered a Southern institution, it's an American institution that's touched ever corner of the nation, including the country's esteemed universities. From Amherst College, to Harvard University, these institutions were built on the backs of slaves. With Brown University leading the way, universities have recently started confronting the uncomfortable truths about their connection to slavery and the implicit racism that came with it. Now that our academic institutions are exhuming their pasts, how should we be talking about slavery in the 21st century?
http://www.wgbh.org/programs/The-Callie-Crossley-Show-855/episodes/Thurs-22312The-Ivy-Leagues-Shackled-to-a-Shameful-Past-36434
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