The Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice (CSSJ) at Brown University is a scholarly research center with a public humanities mission.
Recognizing that racial slavery was central to the historical formation of the Americas and the modern world, the CSSJ creates a space for the interdisciplinary study of the historical forms of slavery while also examining how these legacies continue to shape our contemporary world.
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.”
Work of the Center
The Center’s work is organized around a set of research clusters, projects, seminars, and public engagement initiatives that drive our scholarly and public humanities focus.
Visit us in our renovated 19th century house, which includes a gallery exhibition space, the stunning glass wall art piece Rising to Freedom, and a symbolic garden.
- Juneteenth Special: Historian Clint Smith on Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America
- Harvard’s Deep Ties to Slavery: Report Shows It Profited, Then Tried to Erase History of Complicity
- At Radcliffe Conference, Bacow Pledges to Dedicate Resources to ‘Repair the Damage’ of Harvard’s Slavery Ties | News | The Harvard Crimson
- Where Harvard’s Legacy of Slavery Lives Today | News | The Harvard Crimson
- Telling the Truth about All This: Reckoning with Slavery and Its Legacies at Harvard and Beyond | Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University
- Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery | Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University
- Report of the Presidential Committee on Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery | Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University
- Initiative on Harvard and the Legacy of Slavery | Harvard University
- Harvard initiative to deepen study of its historical ties to slavery – Harvard Gazette
- The Yoke of Bondage: Christianity and African Slavery in the United States | Harvard Library
- Harvard Puts Its Ties To Slavery On Display | Edify
- Universities and Slavery: Bound by History | Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University
- Exhibiting Slavery and Representing Black Lives—Art Museums & the Legacies of the Dutch Slave Trade
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