Will Harvard Continue to Lead the Charge? - Part 160

From the Harvard Crimson: At least 259 Harvard officials enslaved more than 1,600 people over a 229-year period. Researchers expect both numbers to grow as they continue working to identify enslaved individuals. Harvard officials enslaved more than 1,600 people from 1636 to 1865, new research released Tuesday shows. Harvard University shared details in a new database about the people who were enslaved as well as those who owned them. Researchers with the Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery Initiative say they’ve found at least 259 Harvard university leaders, faculty, staff and board members who enslaved individuals. 

The initiative, which began in 2022 as a way to identify the descendants of enslaved individuals, partnered with American Ancestors, a national genealogical nonprofit, on the project. Harvard officials said the database is expected to grow beyond the initial 1,613 people. In a 2022 report, the university identified 70 people who were enslaved... Henry Louis Gates Jr., a Harvard professor who directs the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research and serves on the initiative’s advisory council, said in the university’s news article that he hopes Harvard will be a leader “in demonstrating institutional honesty and humility in confronting the complexities of our institutional past...

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2026/05/13/harvard-tallies-how-many-people-officials-enslaved.