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A6 U.S. NEWS
Monday 16 deceMber 2019

Reparations mark new front for U.S. colleges tied to slavery

By CAROLYN THOMPSON and asked the Ivy League
Associated Press school to consider how it
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — The could make amends for
promise of reparations to the oppression of Antiguan
atone for historical ties to slaves by a plantation own-
slavery has opened new er whose gift endowed a
territory in a reckoning at law professorship in 1815.
U.S. colleges, which until Harvard's president wrote
now have responded with back that the school is de-
monuments, building name termined to further explore
changes and public apolo- its historical ties to slavery.
gies. Harvard in 2016 removed
Georgetown University and a slave owner's family crest
two theological seminaries from the law school seal
have announced funding and dedicated a plaque
commitments to benefit to four slaves who lived and
descendants of the en- worked on campus.
slaved people who were At the University of Buffalo,
sold or toiled to benefit the some have urged the pub-
institutions. lic school to consider the
While no other schools have responsibility it bears hav-
gone so far, the advantag- ing been founded by the
es that institutions received 13th U.S. president, Millard
from the slavery economy In this Sept. 1, 2016 file photo, a Jesuit statue is seen in front of Freedom Hall, formerly named Fillmore, who signed the
are receiving new atten- Mulledy Hall, on the Georgetown University campus in Washington. Associated Press Fugitive Slave Act to help
tion as Democratic presi- slave owners reclaim run-
dential candidates talk erybody else, because sors, like at the University of Auburn University. "It's really aways. Students have not
about tax credits and other this is an American-made Alabama, or by graduate important to pay attention formally raised the idea of
subsidies that nudge the institution. We didn't immi- students and community to what each of these are reparations, according to
idea of reparations toward grate here," said Clinton, a members, like at the Univer- doing" because they could a school spokesman, but
the mainstream. descendant of slaves who sity of Chicago. offer learning opportunities they led a discussion on the
The country has been dis- lives in Bay Shore, New York. At least 56 universities have and inform national discus- topic as part of Black Soli-
cussing reparations in one A majority of Georgetown joined a University of Virgin- sions on reparations. darity Week last month.
way or another since slav- undergraduates voted ia-led consortium, Univer- Virginia Theological Semi- William Darity, a Duke Uni-
ery officially ended in 1865. in April for a nonbind- sities Studying Slavery, to nary in September an- versity public policy pro-
This year marks the 400th ing referendum to pay a explore their ties to slavery nounced a $1.7 million en- fessor and an expert on
anniversary of the arrival $27.20-per-semester "Rec- and share research and dowment fund in recogni- reparations, said the voices
of the first slave, launching onciliation Contribution" to- strategies. tion of slaves who worked of college students have
the violence afflicted on ward projects in underprivi- In recent years, some there. It said annual allo- helped bring attention to
black people to prop up leged communities that schools, like Yale University, cations would go toward reparations in a way that
the Southern economy. are home to some descen- have removed the names supporting African Ameri- hasn't been seen since Re-
University of Buffalo se- dants of 272 slaves who of slavery supporters from can clergy in the Episco- construction.
nior Jeffrey Clinton said he were sold in 1838 to help buildings. New monuments pal church and programs Supporting a reparations
thinks campuses should ac- pay off the school's debts. have gone up elsewhere, that promote justice and program for all black de-
knowledge historical ties to Georgetown President including Brown University's inclusion. The Princeton scendants of American
slavery but that the federal John DeGioia responded in Slavery Memorial sculpture Theological Seminary in slaves "would be the more
government should take October with plans instead — a partially buried ball New Jersey followed with courageous act," he said.
the lead on an issue that for a university-led initia- and chain — and the Me- a $27.6 million endowment Few Americans support
reaches well beyond high- tive, with the goal of raising morial to Enslaved Laborers after a historical audit re- reparations, according to
er education. about $400,000 from do- under construction at the vealed that some founders a recent Associated Press-
"It doesn't have to be tril- nors, rather than students, University of Virginia. used slave labor. NORC Center for Public
lions of dollars ... but at to support projects like "It's a very diffused kind of In an October letter to Har- Affairs Research poll. It
least address the inequi- health clinics and schools in set of things happening vard University's president, showed that only 29% say
ties and attack the racial those same communities. around the nation," said Antigua and Barbuda's the government should
wealth gap between Afri- Elsewhere, discussions of Guy Emerson Mount, an prime minister noted the pay cash reparations to
can Americans and white reparations have been associate professor of Af- developments at George- descendants of enslaved
Americans and really ev- raised by individual profes- rican American history at town and the seminaries black people. q