Historical Groundwork

"Racial slavery was at the center of the Atlantic World’s economy for centuries. One of the primary legacies of racial slavery is that white supremacy and anti-Black racism—the justifying principles for profiting from the exploited labor of Black people—became so deeply ingrained in the Atlantic World that they became part of the structures of society that are with us to this day. Historians call this process the development of systemic racism (sometimes referred to as institutionalized or structural racism)." —Racial Slavery in the Americas: Resistance, Freedom, and Legacies, The Choices Program at Brown University

Please watch the introductory video below:

This section will provide a brief, wide-ranging overview of racial slavery in the Americas (and at Brown University) over many centuries. This is by no means a compressive catalog of history, nor is it meant to supplement any formal education on slavery and racial justice. We hope that by recognizing how racial slavery was central to the historical formation of the Americas and the modern world, we can create space for an interdisciplinary discussion of the historical forms of slavery, race, and the effect of white supremacy on our society. The AART training sessions will take a deep dive into the impact of this history on areas such as education, health care, economics, and more.

This information can be extremely triggering. We recommend having a good self-care plan in place before continuing. Please be sure to take breaks and ask for help as needed.

In 1619, a ship with 20 captives landed at Point Comfort in Virginia, ushering in the era of American slavery that would last for centuries. It would take a lifetime to study to unpack and understand the details and intricacies of slavery's impact on America. The image below is a very rudimentary, truncated timeline of major events. We recommend that you take some time here to full explore the links below to get a better understanding of historical events across the US and at Brown. You can see a timeline of Brown's full history here.

Click the map below to see an interactive time-lapse of slave ships from 1520-1860. You can zoom in to specific locations and click on the dots for information about each ship including the number of enslaved people taken and how many did not survive the journey.

This site also includes the data in tables, charts, and graphs so you can examine the information in various ways.

The Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America was established in 1986 as one of the nation's earliest academic centers dedicated to research, scholarship, and academic exchanges on issues of race and ethnicity. In 1996, it became the home of the newly established concentration in Ethnic Studies. The CSREA supports and generates rigorous and accessible research, performance, art and scholarship on a broad range of pressing issues related to race and ethnicity to help build greater understanding and a more just world.

The Report on Slavery & Justice: In 2003, Brown University President Ruth Simmons appointed a Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice. The committee, which included faculty members, undergraduate and graduate students, and administrators, was charged to investigate and to prepare a report about the University’s historical relationship to slavery and the transatlantic slave trade. It was also asked to organize public programs that might help the campus and the nation reflect on the meaning of this history in the present, on the complex historical, political, legal, and moral questions posed by any present-day confrontation with past injustice. The Committee presented its final report to President Simmons in October 2006. On February 24, 2007, the Brown Corporation endorsed a set of initiatives in response to the Committee’s report. This report also lead to the creation of the Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice. (A digital copy of this report is linked below if you wish to explore this topic further.)

The Center for the Study of Slavery & Justice at Brown University is a scholarly research center with a public humanities mission. Since its inception in 2012, the Center has organized hundreds of public programs to examine issues of social justice and racial equality, including the impact of anti-black racism on our nation’s educational systems, and racial segregation and its persistent structural legacies. As well we have paid attention to issues around contemporary human trafficking. As part of its mission to examine the history and legacies of slavery in ways that engage a broad public, the CSSJ has built a global network of scholars, museums, and universities. The Center has initiated joint projects with universities and museums around the world and fostered relationships with high school educators across the nation. Through its research, exhibitions, convenings, and curriculum, the Center has become a leading institution for understanding how slavery’s legacy directly impacts all of our lives, yet is “hidden in plain sight.”

You can also read a timeline of significant milestones in Brown’s journey to become a more diverse and inclusive campus (created as part of the development of Pathways to Diversity and Inclusion: An Action Plan for Brown University, released February 1, 2016).

For much of American history the founding generation — often mythologized and capitalized as the Founding Fathers — served as the gold standard against which both patriotism and progress are measured. Ralph Waldo Emerson put this tradition succinctly, stating "They saw God face to face; we can only see Him second-hand." Symbols play an important role in American political culture, perhaps more than in others, and this deification of the Founding Fathers is deeply rooted in white supremacy, specifically anti-Black racism and Indigenous erasure.

Doing the work to be anti-racist takes more than learning new things; it also takes unlearning previously held beliefs and truths. Context is very important for this topic. See the example below discussing the famous John Trumbull painting Declaration of Independence:

The Declaration's second sentence is the infamous: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

What changes about the weight of the sentiment when looking at the men signing it as slaveholders? Parsa takes this analysis even further:

If something in this work contradicts a commonly held belief, please resist the urge to mentally push-back. Unlearning can often be more difficult than merely acquiring new knowledge. For more information about "unlearning" common stories of American history, please see:

Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong by James W. Loewen

An Indigenous Peoples' History Of The United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz

1. Consider yourself in a historical context: Identify an early/childhood memory when you became conscious of race. What was happening at that time in terms of race relations? What progress had the Civil Rights movement accomplished and what remained to be done?

2. Did your education include in-depth historical information about race? If not, what (if anything) have you done to make up the deficit?

3. As an employee of the University, how do you feel about Brown's work regarding slavery and justice?

4. What are some things in your life that you have had to unlearn? How did you feel when you became aware that the information you had was inaccurate?

5. Can you anticipate what feelings might arise if your knowledge is challenged during a training session? If those feelings are negative, what are some positive reactions you can have to them?