Memorial Project
Memorial Project
About the Memorial Project
The Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery Initiative launched the Memorial Project Committee in 2023 as part of the University’s commitment to implement Recommendation 2 from the Report of the Presidential Committee on Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery to “Honor Enslaved People through Memorialization, Research, Curricula, and Knowledge Dissemination.”
The Memorial Project Committee comprises a dedicated group of artists, scholars, and subject area experts in African diasporic history and culture, Native American and Indigenous studies, law, design, and divinity. Their work guiding the memorial’s development is grounded in the pursuit of truth and reconciliation as Harvard seeks to honor the enslaved people whose labor facilitated the founding, growth, and evolution of the University. The memorial project is multi-year and informed by local communities, descendant communities, and artists.
As part of the Initiative’s commitment to honoring enslaved people through memorialization, a Request for Qualifications was released in December 2023 and will relaunch in 2025.
The Memorial Project Committee invites artists, architects, designers, multi-disciplinary teams, and other creators to express their interest in conceiving a site or sites on Harvard’s Cambridge campus for commemoration and reflection, as well as for listening to and living with the University’s legacy of slavery. We seek expressions of interest from those with investments of thought and practice in memorialization, ritual, community-building, history, and questions about the future. We are particularly interested in creative visions that activate and make visible complex dynamics, such as: permanence and vitality; honor and rebuke; ecology and the built environment; and institutional interest and the common good. We welcome submissions from individuals, collaboratives, and teams rooted in traditional or non-traditional memorial practices at any stage of their careers.
The anticipated timeline for project completion will be determined by University partners in conjunction with the design team. Upon review of all submissions, the Memorial Project Committee will invite a small group of finalists to visit Harvard, meet with community members, and submit formal proposals to be considered for the Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery Memorial. The University has a provisional multi-million dollar budget for this project, inclusive of artist fees, materials, fabrication, and construction costs. Additional resources from the Legacy of Slavery endowment may be available for short- and long-term planning, programming, and engagement.