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Institutions whose business empire began during colonization, especially those that participated in the slave trade or whose founding partners owned enslaved Africans.

The connections between many historic universities and slavery differ significantly. Typically, there are three primary ways institutions were involved with slavery: directly employing enslaved labor on campuses, farms, and construction sites; maintaining financial links through donations, endowments, and founding wealth originating from slavery or slave trading; and engaging intellectually or administratively in systems that supported slavery and colonial economies. Below are notable examples, with a brief overview of each institution.

U.S. Ivy League and Peer Institutions

Harvard University

Harvard College in its early centuries relied on enslaved labor in the households of faculty and administrators and benefited from donations from merchants and elites whose wealth was tied to slavery and the Atlantic trade. Enslaved individuals were also present in Harvard-connected residences and in Cambridge households.

Yale University

Yale’s colonial-era leaders and donors included slaveholders and participants in the slave economy. Although Yale did not operate plantations, it accumulated early wealth through donors and from regional economies deeply tied to slavery in New England and the Caribbean trade.

Princeton University

Princeton (College of New Jersey) was established within a society that practiced slavery; its early trustees and presidents owned enslaved individuals. Enslaved labor contributed to household chores and campus activities in the institution's initial years.

Columbia University

Founded as King’s College, Columbia had trustees and benefactors connected to slavery and the Atlantic trade. Enslaved labor was used in colonial New York, including in settings tied to the college’s early operations and financing.

University of Pennsylvania

Early leaders, such as Benjamin Franklin’s circle, operated within a Philadelphia economy that was heavily reliant on slavery. Enslaved individuals worked in households associated with the university’s founding community, and among the donors were slaveholding merchants.

Brown University

Brown’s founding family (the Browns) were heavily engaged in the Atlantic slave trade and related commerce. The university’s initial endowment benefited greatly from wealth produced by slavery- associated shipping and trade networks.

Dartmouth College

Dartmouth’s early history includes documented ownership of enslaved people by its founders and trustees, as well as the use of enslaved labor in households connected to the institution during the 18th and early 19th centuries.

Georgetown University

A well-documented case is that Georgetown Jesuits owned and sold enslaved people in the 1830s to financially support the university, using the profits to keep it afloat. Enslaved labor also contributed to campus operations.

Johns Hopkins University

Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins did not directly operate under slavery. However, its founding benefactor’s wealth was connected to Baltimore’s slave economy, including the commerce and financial systems established during the legal slavery era.

University of Virginia

Founded by Thomas Jefferson, UVA relied heavily on enslaved people for construction, maintenance, and daily operations. Enslaved laborers built and cared for the campus and supported faculty households for many years.

Rutgers University

Rutgers’ early history in colonial New Jersey involved the use of enslaved labor in the surrounding area. Although early trustees and donors participated in slaveholding economies, the university itself did not operate plantations.

Barnard College

Founded in 1889, Barnard was established after the end of U.S. slavery, though it maintains historical ties to Columbia’s earlier history. It inherited a broader legacy and endowment shaped by wealth accumulated during the era of slavery.

UK Universities and Imperial-era Ties

University of Oxford

Oxford colleges received substantial donations from individuals whose wealth was derived from the Atlantic slave trade and Caribbean plantations. Although they did not directly engage in slavery, they benefited from the slave economies of the imperial era.

University of Cambridge

Like Oxford, Cambridge colleges also received endowments and benefactions from slave traders, plantation owners, and imperial administrators linked to slavery-based wealth.

University of Manchester

Manchester’s prosperity was closely linked to the cotton industry, which relied significantly on enslaved labor in the American South. The university gained indirectly from industrial and commercial philanthropy.

University of Bristol

Bristol merchants played a significant role in the transatlantic slave trade. The wealth generated by the slave trade and plantation economies helped fund the city’s institutions and early philanthropic efforts.

University of Liverpool

Liverpool was a key port involved in the slave trade. Wealth generated from slave ships, insurance, and plantation commerce contributed to the city’s economy and fostered the growth of institutions, such as educational philanthropy.

In many of these institutions, the connection to slavery isn’t simply about universities owning slaves directly. Instead, it involves enslaved labor being part of early campus life, especially in colonial American schools. The initial wealth that funded these institutions often came from slave-based economies such as trade, plantations, and shipping, which helped these institutions grow through family and industry funding linked to slavery. Additionally, there is an indirect dependence on slave-produced goods, particularly cotton, in UK industrial universities.