Weekly Briefing: Harvard Will Spend $100 Million to Atone for Its Ties to Slavery

The university released a 134-page report this week about its “extensive entanglements” with slavery. ADVERTISEMENT [Weekly Briefing Logo]( Did someone forward you this newsletter? [Sign up free]( to receive your own copy. Harvard calls its ties to slavery “immoral.” Here’s what will happen next. Harvard University benefited from, and in some ways perpetuated, slavery for years, and the university will now spend $100 million to help atone for those “profoundly immoral practices,” wrote President Lawrence S. Bacow [in an email]( to the campus on Tuesday. The email was accompanied by a [134-page report]( that details the university’s centuries-long ties to slavery. Harvard [joins many other institutions]( that have researched their connections to the deadly and inhumane practice, and committed substantial funds to make amends for it. In 2019, Bacow continued the work of his predecessors and started the Presidential Committee on Harvard and the Legacy of Slavery, study slavery at Harvard and report its findings. The report said slavery was a part of life at institutions in the North, not just the South, and remained legal in Massachusetts until it was ruled unconstitutional, in 1783. Harvard was 147 years old by the time of the ruling, and slavery was long embedded in its institutional history. (Pictured above is a plaque commemorating people enslaved by Harvard leaders.) The Harvard Corporation, Harvard’s chief governing board, said it would spend $100 million to fund the recommendations outlined in the report. Though the university is not legally bound to adopt the recommendations, the report said, Harvard does have a moral obligation to do so. It suggests that Harvard should, among other things: - Support the descendants of enslaved people via research, teaching innovations, and teacher training. - Start lasting partnerships with historically Black colleges and universities. - Establish an “endowed legacy-of-slavery fund” to support Harvard’s reparative efforts. - Honor and support Native communities in recognition that university leaders once enslaved and sold Indigenous people as well. - Follow up with reports and evaluations to ensure that the university is held accountable for the changes. Remember, this report is a starting point: In 2016, Georgetown University, a Jesuit institution, made waves when it apologized for the sale of 272 slaves in 1838 and promised to give [descendants of those enslaved people]( preferred admissions. [The plan was praised for being the first of its kind](. But in recent months, conversations at Georgetown have [become divided]( as some descendants push for reparations, [while the Jesuits are hesitant](. This conflict, and those at other institutions, show that reports like Harvard’s are a starting point for more difficult conversations. [Read our Katie Mangan’s full story here](. [For more, watch Katie’s interview on NBC News](. ADVERTISEMENT Lagniappe. - Read. What if your family was cursed with deathly or catastrophic falls? Do you tempt fate with thrill-seeking activities or become anxious that a fall is just around the corner? That’s the premise of the novel [Defenestrate]( by Renée Branum. (Publishers Weekly) - Listen. Forgive me if you’ve already heard of the so-called supergroup Electronic, a collaboration between musicians from the band New Order and the former guitarist for the Smiths. I’m late to the party, but that doesn’t make the album [Electronic]( any less great. (Spotify) - Watch. 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