Harvard releases information on 1,613 individuals enslaved by leaders, faculty, or staff

Harvard University has published a database identifying 1,613 individuals enslaved by University leaders, faculty, or staff or who labored on Harvard’s campus between 1636 and 1865. 

The publicly accessible Harvard Slavery Remembrance Program (HSRP) database is an update on the University’s research, and a result of a recommendation included in the 2022 Report of the Presidential Committee on Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery. The report initially identified more than 70 individuals. The new HSRP database includes the names, locations, and documented dates of enslaved people — as well as the names and positions of the Harvard affiliates who enslaved them. The research behind the database is being led by American Ancestors, the nation’s oldest genealogical nonprofit and the research partner of the Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery (H&LS) Initiative. 

“Harvard and our partners have approached this work thoughtfully, seriously, and with respect for those individuals we are able to identify and the family histories we can help recover,” said Sara Bleich, vice provost for special projects at Harvard and leader of the H&LS initiative. “To expand our research from just over 70 individuals to now 1,613 has taken genealogical expertise on the part of countless researchers. And, while our work is by no means done, this is a big step forward.” 

The database is the product of rigorous genealogical and archival research. While genealogical research often begins with a living person and traces backward, for enslaved individuals, “We do the opposite: start in the past and move to the present,” said Lindsay Fulton, chief research officer at American Ancestors. “We are basically doubling the research — because you have to research both the enslavers and the people they enslaved.”

To find the descendants of people who were enslaved by Harvard leaders, faculty, or staff, researchers first built out a list of who held those positions in the years between 1636 and 1865. The University didn’t have a centralized staff registry until much more recently, which meant researchers had to comb through handwritten notes from University meetings, stewards’ books, faculty records, legislative charters, and a variety of other sources to recreate Harvard’s roster from the ground up. Through this work, researchers have verified approximately 3,000 members of leadership, faculty, or staff, creating a framework where none had previously existed. 

“In researching people who were enslaved by Harvard affiliates, we first needed to understand the structure of the University, the different positions people held, and how these changed over time,” Fulton said. “For example, members of the Board of Overseers were often appointed because they held positions within the colonial government or because they were church ministers. But the criteria for who was an overseer changed over time.”

From there, researchers searched for documentation that indicated which individuals enslaved people. This information could lead to uncovering the names, or in some instances where names were not apparent, indications of those they enslaved. The new database identifies 259 members of Harvard’s leadership, faculty, or staff prior to the end of the Civil War who enslaved individuals. American Ancestors’ research into these 259 and other Harvard leaders, faculty, and staff is ongoing and expected to grow significantly.

Performing simultaneous genealogical work for the Harvard leaders, faculty, or staff who enslaved individuals as well as those they enslaved requires diligence and attention to detail. For each of the former, researchers examined a specific set of documents, including probate records, land and property deeds, and marriage records, among many more. 

Identifying enslaved individuals, who were considered property under colonial and pre-Civil War law, can be even more complex. These individuals are often mentioned only in passing in estate disputes that can stretch several hundred pages. In some cases, their names shift over time.

While the database represents a major expansion from the approximately 70 names included in the 2022 report, the growth does not come as a surprise. The presidential committee had anticipated that the list would widen considerably as the H&LS Initiative implemented Recommendation 4 from the report. The H&LS Initiative was established in 2022 to implement the seven recommendations the committee detailed in the report. 

Harvard and American Ancestors acknowledged that the database is far from finished; researchers will continue to identify more individuals enslaved by University leadership, faculty, or staff — and trace the descendants, living and deceased, of those they enslaved. While the work to recover and reconstruct family histories and family trees will take time, so far researchers have identified about 600 living descendants. The H&LS Initiative will continue sharing new findings with the public at key milestone moments, helping support a wider effort of institutions exploring their ties to slavery. The University will contribute this research to the 10 Million Names project, a collaborative initiative led by 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.

“My hope is that, over time, unflinching self-examination will ripple outward, that Harvard will be a leader not only in scholarship but in demonstrating institutional honesty and humility in confronting the complexities of our institutional past,” said Alphonse Fletcher University Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., who is also a member of the initiative’s Advisory Council. “Every chapter in history, every family tree, and every institution, has its share of shadows and surprises. The journey isn’t always neat and easy, but it’s a crucial part of self-knowledge — an experience both necessary and transformative.”

To explore the HSRP database, learn more about the research methodology, and review resources for pursuing genealogical research, visit the Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery website.