Slavery in the Hands of Harvard, Harvard University, Jan. 21, 2019 - March 19, 2019

Fewer than 154 years have passed since the end of the Civil War and the formal ending of American slavery through the passing of the 13th Amendment. Harvard University, founded in 1636, coexisted longer with American slavery longer than not. In recent years, Harvard’s faculty and students have explored the university’s connections to the peculiar institution through the Harvard and Slavery Project. Slavery in the Hands of Harvard expands on this ongoing conversation about the modern-day implications of American universities’ connections to slavery. Harvard’s collection of artifacts and archival documents from the era of slavery are the point of departure to showcase the work of contemporary artists (including Noel W. Anderson, Renée Cox, Nona Faustine Simmons, Rosana Paulino, and Kara Walker) whose work explore the enduring legacy of slavery. By looking for the shadow of the past on the present, we honor the struggles of those who came before us and acknowledge that the legacy of slavery extends beyond objects preserved in Harvard’s archives and collections.

Press

”Harvard’s Complicit History with Slavery,” Hyperallergic, Feb. 26, 2019.
”A History of Slavery, Vividly Alive in the Present at Harvard,” Boston Globe, March 13, 2019.
”College Degrees, Freedom Papers, and the Admission Scam That We All Fall For,” Boston Globe, March 15, 2019.
”Vassall Tankards,” British Art Studies, June 30, 2020.