  In 2006 and 2016, the University of Pennsylvania denied any ties to slavery.
In 2017, a group of undergraduate researchers, led by Professor Kathleen Brown,
investigated this claim. Initial research, focused on 18th century faculty and
trustees who owned slaves, revealed deep connections between the university's
history and the institution of slavery. These findings, and discussions amongst
the researchers shaped the Penn and Slavery Project's goal of redefining
complicity beyond ownership. Breanna Moore's contributions in PSP's second
semester expanded the project's focus to include generational wealth gaps. In
2018, VanJessica Gladney served as the PSP's Public History Fellow and spread
the project outreach in the greater Philadelphia area. That year, the PSP team
began to design an augmented reality app as a Digital Interruption and an
attempt to display the truth about Penn's history on its campus. Unfortunately,
PSP faced delays due to COVID 19. Despite setbacks, the project persisted,
engaging with activists and the wider community to confront historical
injustices and modern inequalities.
