Herbert H. Lehman Suite
International Affairs Building 406
420 W 118th St.
The hard part of identifying university slaves isn’t the finding. It’s the looking.
In 2022, Harvard University appointed Richard Cellini to identify people enslaved by Harvard and locate their direct descendants. Three Harvard presidents later, the effort has come under attack inside and outside the University, from both the left and the right. But Richard’s work continues. Steering the middle course, Cellini tells the historical truth: Harvard wouldn’t be Harvard without antebellum slavery.
The Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race and Columbia University & Slavery Project present a lecture titled Northern Profits & Southern Plantations: Telling the Truth about Harvard Slavery. Our guest speaker, Richard Cellini, is a Visiting Fellow at Harvard’s Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics. From 2022-2025, he directed the Harvard Slavery Remembrance Program, tasked with the sacred duty of identifying people enslaved on Harvard’s campus or by Harvard leaders, faculty, and staff, and tracing their direct descendants.
*Non-CUID holders should email cser@columbia.edu for campus access
