5 - Inheriting America’s Original Sin

Summary

In 2003, President Ruth Simmons of Brown University commissioned the first major self-study of an American university’s relationship to the slave trade. She tasked the Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice with researching and reporting on Brown’s participation in slavery, including reflection on its meaning in light of “the complex historical, political, legal and moral questions posed by any present-day confrontation with past injustice.”¹ The committee recommended various truth-telling and memorialization measures, the creation of a center for research on slavery and justice, a commitment to high ethical standards for investments and gifts, scholarships for African American students, and fostering good public education in Rhode Island.² Brown’s action established a high bar for responses to the legacies of slavery at other American universities, and many others followed suit, including the University of Virginia, Harvard, Columbia, William and Mary, Rutgers, the University of North Carolina, and Washington and Lee.³