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North
Carolina archivists were researching the university's
first 100 years when they found records that confirmed
slaves helped construct campus buildings. Other records
showed that both faculty and university board members
owned slaves.
Some
of that research is on display in "Slavery and
the Making of the University: Celebrating Our Unsung
Heroes, Bond and Free." The on-campus exhibit includes
photographs, letters and documents such as bills of
sale for slaves.
In
one letter, the wife of the school's first law professor
wrote her husband that university President David Lowry
Swain wanted to hire "Harry" for work. She
pledged she would "hire Harry out whenever I can."
The
exhibit is among several recent efforts by the university
to acknowledge its past links to slavery. It offers
a class on the history of blacks at the school, and
a monument honoring the slaves and free blacks who helped
build the school was installed in May.
Other
universities that have shed light on their historical
ties to slavery include the University of Alabama, where
the faculty senate last year apologized to the descendants
of slaves who were owned by faculty members or who worked
on campus in the years before the Civil War. The school
also erected a marker near the graves of two slaves
on campus.
A
committee at Brown University in Rhode Island is examining
the school's past ties to the slave trade and recommending
whether and how the college should take responsibility.
A report on the findings is due by the end of the fall
semester.
"We
clearly do live in a society that has a persistent pattern
of racial disparity and I think most people would agree
that that has something to do with our history,"
said James Campbell, a history professor at Brown and
the chairman of the committee.
"If
you care about that pattern of disparity, then it seems
to me one of the things that is incumbent on you is
to try to find out how we got here," Campbell said
Just
how many schools have ties to the slave trade remains
unknown, since so much information has been concealed,
said Harvard law professor Charles Ogletree. But he
believes those found to have had links to slavery should
pay reparations.
Some
banks and financial services firms have made donations
after conducting investigations into their own past
ties to slavery. Often the research in those case was
prompted by local governments demanding an accounting.
Charlotte-based
Wachovia Corp. committed an undisclosed sum to support
black history education in June, a few days after announcing
that two of its predecessor banks owned slaves. Also
this year, New York-based JPMorgan Chase & Co. gave
$5 million to support college scholarships for black
students in Louisiana, where two of its predecessor
banks received thousands of slaves as collateral.
The
researchers examining the University of North Carolina's
past say they hope the new exhibit in just the beginning
of a renewed effort to create a more complete understanding
of the school's early years.
"I
think it is important that we do this since we are the
oldest university," said Susan Ballinger, assistant
university archivist. "The chancellor has said
over and over again that it's critical for the university
to be honest about its past. He wants our history told
fully, warts and all."
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