event • Radcliffe on the Road

Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery: Reckoning with the Past to Understand the Present

Tuesday, March 9, 2021
4 PM–5 PM ET
Online on Zoom

Tombstone in Mt. Auburn Cemetery that reads, “Here lyes ye body of Cecily, negro, late servant to ye Reverend Mr. William Brattle. She died April 8, 1714, being 13 years old.”

Tombstone in the Old Burying Ground, Harvard Square, for “Cicely, Negro, Late Servant to Reverend William Brattle,” who died in 1714. Brattle, the Rector of First Church, had previously served as a Tutor at Harvard College. He was Treasurer of the College at the time of Cicely’s death. Photo by Kevin Grady/Harvard Radcliffe Institute

The Presidential Initiative on Harvard and the Legacy of Slavery, a University-wide effort housed at Harvard Radcliffe Institute, is an effort to understand and address the enduring legacy of slavery within our University community. Our Radcliffe on the Road series (now virtual) will explore the charge of the initiative and the work under way to explore Harvard’s historical entanglements with slavery and its legacies, along with the initiative’s efforts to support student and community engagement.

Event Video

Speakers

Tomiko Brown-Nagin, chair of the Presidential Committee on Harvard and the Legacy of Slavery, dean of the Harvard Radcliffe Institute, Daniel P.S. Paul Professor of Constitutional Law at Harvard Law School, and professor of history in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University

Tiya Miles, member of the Presidential Committee on Harvard and the Legacy of Slavery, Radcliffe Alumnae Professor at Harvard Radcliffe Institute, and professor of history in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University

Martha Minow, member of the Presidential Committee on Harvard and the Legacy of Slavery, former dean of Harvard Law School, and 300th Anniversary University Professor, Harvard University