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TNR: UC Researchers to Explore History of Slavery on Campus
http://www.newsrecord.org/news/uc-begins...aa483.html
UC researchers to explore history of slavery on campus
Elizabeth Schmitt | News Editor
The University of Cincinnati has committed to examining the historical role of slavery on its campus.
On Aug. 21, Provost Kristi Nelson announced that UC has joined Universities Studying Slavery (USS), a multi-institutional consortium, to investigate its historical connections to enslaved people.
Started by the University of Virginia, USS is a collaboration of more than 40 universities. Member schools aim to explore the complicated legacies of slavery and how they connect to modern American society.
“This is something that lots of institutions are undertaking right now,” said David Stradling, associate dean for humanities. “Nationally, this is a moment in time where people are recognizing what really needs to be done to create an inclusive campus.”
Stradling is heading the process of creating a research panel to examine relations between the university and the city. The 16-member panel includes archivists, historians, lawyers and sociologists, as well as directors from the Office of Equity and Inclusion and the African American Cultural and Resource Center (AACRC).
Panel members will meet throughout the year and conduct independent and group research. They will also enlist student aid by coordinating research in classes, Stradling said.
“UC’s institutional connections to slavery remain largely unexplored,” reads Nelson’s statement on the Arts and Sciences website. “This work will support UC’s mission as a comprehensive urban public research institution by addressing both historical and contemporary issues dealing with race and inequality in higher education and in university communities.”
The investigation will start with a broad history of UC and gradually narrow as the panel makes discoveries, Stradling said. It will also focus on UC’s relationship with off-campus neighborhoods and the African-American community.
One aspect of the investigation concerns the life of Charles McMicken, who left much of his estate to the City of Cincinnati upon his death in 1858. In his will, McMicken stated that the land was intended to create a college for “white boys and girls.”
Although the university never established any admissions policies concerning race, it was not until 1886 that Henry Malachi Griffin became the first African-American to graduate from the college.
McMicken owned slaves in New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He fathered three children whose mothers were enslaved.
“One of the things we want to do with this effort of the University Studying Slavery is to investigate McMicken’s family and how this African-American family, which is the family of the founder of the University of Cincinnati, has never really been a part of this institution that their ancestor created,” said Stradling.
In addition to researching McMicken’s children, the panel plans to investigate McMicken’s wealth and the subsequent problems that are inherited from a slave-labor based economy.
The investigation is multifaceted, and its findings will ultimately be published. However, much of the process is still in preliminary stages. The research panel plans to hold a public forum event in the spring.
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| 08-28-2018 09:56 AM |
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TNR: UC Researchers to Explore History of Slavery on Campus
