By Maddie Orton
Arts Correspondent
His name was Will. That’s almost all we know about one slave who helped build the foundation of Rutgers‘ historic Old Queens building. But thanks to a new initiative, his legacy will live on. The school’s Scarlet and Black Project is working to bring the histories of African-American and Native American people at Rutgers to light. Chancellor Richard Edwards started the project after a group of students shared the book “Ebony and Ivy” with him — and the ways Rutgers was built on the backs of the disenfranchised.
“Many of the forefathers of the early higher ed institutions — and I’m talking Brown, Yale, Harvard, all the ivy leagues — had slaves,” explained Edwards.
It’s a part of Rutgers history with which Edwards wasn’t very familiar. The land had been occupied by the Lenni-Lenape and Colonel Henry Rutgers himself owned slaves.
“We are, as I said, one of the most diverse higher ed institutions in America today. But we didn’t start out that way,” said Edwards. “So I think the more that we understand the history, the more we can discuss it, and kind of come to grips with it.”
“Scarlet and Black: Volume 1” was created out of the project. Associate Professor Marisa Fuentes is one of the book’s editors. She says some findings were really surprising — for example famed abolitionist and women’s rights activist Sojourner Truth was owned by Rutgers President Jacob Hardebergh’s parents. In general though, she says it’s challenging to uncover information on enslaved people, so researchers had their work cut out for them.
“They went through records of runaway advertisements in newspapers…wills…manumission records, which are the records that are owners freeing their slaves, and other kinds of court documents,” said Fuentes.
Rutgers isn’t alone in re-examining its roots. Georgetown University will offer preferential admission to descendants of slaves sold by the school. Protestors at Princeton recently fought to rename the Woodrow Wilson School — he was an ardent supporter of segregation. Here in New Brunswick, the question is what is the best way to tell this previously hidden part of Rutgers history.
Hardenbergh Hall is named after the university’s first president, who was a slaveholder. Edwards says the school is looking into possibly keeping the name of the hall, but adding a plaque that provides a more detailed history.
Jasmine Dennis is president of Rutgers’ Black Student Union. She says it’s heartwarming to see the administration, hear its students and take action.
“It’s everyone’s history, it’s not just our history, so everyone should be learning about it,” she said. “I think it’s a great step, and that they should take pride in being one of the first universities to have a whole project written up.”
Dennis says she hopes the momentum continues and that names like Sojourner Truth or Will are memorialized on buildings, too.