Supporting Descendants
At the Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery Initiative, we believe that by facilitating collaborations, partnerships, and other strategic initiatives that address systemic inequities, we will meaningfully impact direct descendants (those whose ancestors were enslaved by Harvard leaders, faculty, and staff) and descendant communities (those who are directly or indirectly impacted by chattel slavery).
Recommendation 1 of the Report of the Presidential Committee on Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery calls on the University to “Engage and Support Descendant Communities by Leveraging Harvard’s Excellence in Education.” Utilizing Harvard’s scholarly excellence and expertise in education to confront systemic and enduring inequities that impact descendant communities — in close partnership with institutions and organizations already implementing the work — allows the Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery Initiative to take initial steps towards mending harm.
Descendant Communities
Reparative Grant Program
The University recognizes that slavery’s impact affects every aspect of American life and is often demonstrated through systemic racism. As a result, the Report of the Presidential Committee on Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery released a set of recommendations committing to mend harms due to the University’s ties to slavery. As a part of this commitment and influenced by Recommendation 1 and Recommendation 6, the Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery Initiative launched the Reparative Grant Program in 2023 to fund proposals that demonstrate innovative and achievable programs and ideas to address systemic inequities affecting local descendant communities (i.e., people who have suffered slavery-related harms).
Direct Descendants
Image credit: American Ancestors
Harvard Slavery Remembrance Program
The University launched the Harvard Slavery Remembrance Program in 2022 through collaborations with the American Ancestors to advance Recommendation 4 in the Report of the Presidential Committee on Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery to “Identify, Engage, and Support Direct Descendants.” Their charge is to meticulously identify descendants — living and deceased — of those enslaved by University leaders, faculty, and staff. This work will take multiple years of research and discovery, and Harvard is currently positioning itself to be able to engage with identified direct descendants through a trauma-informed approach. Records of family lineage created from this work will also be used to engage with descendant communities and will help inform other aspects of the Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery Initiative’s ongoing work. The University will donate these records to the 10 Million Names project, a collaborative initiative led by the American Ancestors that is dedicated to recovering the names of the estimated 10 million men, women, and children of African descent who were enslaved in pre- and post-colonial America.