Brown University examines past links to slave trade

A fraught topic, the issue of reparations for slavery -- especially messy when talking about corporate entities whose connections with past incarnations may be tenuous indeed. In Rhode Island, however, where the slave trade founded many a fortune, Brown University is now taking a look at old family connections:

Brown University President Ruth J. Simmons, a slave descendant, has established a committee to examine the Ivy League school's ties to slavery and debate whether Brown has an obligation to make amends.

A Brown spokesman yesterday confirmed the group exists, but declined to elaborate. "There will be no announcement today by the university," Mark Nickel said. . .

The univeristy seems to have struggled with its ambiguous slave past. Its booklet, "A Short History," dutifully notes the namesake family's early connection to the college. Nicholas Brown, who was one of the 24 original incorporators in 1764, was a wealthy merchant whose family gave generously to the school, then called Rhode Island College.

The history notes that Nicholas' brother, John Brown, paid half the cost of the college's first library. . .

The 88-page history neglects to mention, however, that John Brown was a slave trader as well as a merchant, and that ships from his family trading company, Nicholas Brown & Co., were used to transport slaves. . .

It has been difficult to determine how much of the family's wealth was derived from the slave trade versus the rum and dry-goods trades. Historical evidence also indicates that slaves were used at the family's candle factory in Providence, its ironworks in Scituate, and to build Brown's University Hall, according to the university report. . .

John Brown continued to defend slavery until his death. Another brother, Moses Brown, and their nephew, Nicholas Brown Jr., however, became ardent abolitionists and worked to end slavery by pushing for a tougher prohibition against slave ships entering American ports. John Brown became the first Rhode Islander prosecuted under the federal Slave Trade Act of 1794 and had to forfeit his slave ship.

From the Providence Journal, with more here. Note the rather critical assessment of media coverage of the issue here in the Brown Daily Herald:

It's been almost one year since President Ruth Simmons established the University's Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice and almost eight months since Brown Alumni Monthly reported on it. But the national media has just caught on. . .

Reactions to the coverage have revealed a culture clash between the slow−moving, reflective world of academia and the fast−paced, deadline−driven cycle of journalism. At the committee's first event . . . Committee Chair and Professor of American Civilization James Campbell expressed frustration with media coverage of the committee, which he said has focused primarily on the "sexy" issue of reparations.

More here. Personally, I wonder if there shouldn't first be more scrutiny of Brown's misdeeds of living memory. In particular, its collusion with corrupt city governments to seize entire neighborhoods (mostly black, of course) in the 1950s and '60s by eminent domain -- houses, churches and all. One such operation was described by Brown President Wriston (1937-55) as "the greatest slum clearance since Sherman burned Atlanta".

Posted by David on March 28, 2004 7:05 PM