Lesson 755 .

Graduates Demand US Colleges Make Up for

Past Slavery Ties
@Nozargan June 01, 2021

‫ تمرین و نکات مهم تست زدن‬، ‫آشنایی کامل با آزمون آیلتس به همراه منابع‬

Shepard Thomas, a recent Georgetown University graduate and a descendant

of slaves sold by Jesuits to keep the school open, poses for a portrait on the
campus in Washington on Thursday, May 6, 2021. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn
Martin)
Some young Black people want their universities to fulfill their promises
to help the descendants of enslaved people.
They say students and people who live in college communities need to
hold the universities responsible. And they say this is the time to do it.
Jason Carroll recently graduated from Brown University in Providence,
Rhode Island. Shepard Thomas graduated from Georgetown University
in Washington, D.C. a year ago. They are descendants of enslaved people.
Carroll said, “There’s been a shift in America. We’re at a different place.
Just a few years ago, it was controversial to say ‘Black Lives Matter.’”
Carroll and Thomas say at least their universities recently identified their
ties to the slave trade. But they believe there is still more to be done.
Thomas is a member of a group of students who came to Georgetown
because of a special program for the descendants of enslaved people.
Historical ties to slavery
In the 1800s, Georgetown’s leaders helped sell a group of 272 men,
women and children who were slaves at large farms in Maryland to other
farms in Louisiana. The money from the sale helped the school pay off
debt.
About five years ago, Georgetown said it would give students like Thomas
special admissions considerations. He is among the first of that group to
graduate.
Some of the older universities in the U.S. had ties to slavery or received
money from people who sold slaves.
Craig Steven Wilder at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology wrote a
book about the connection between higher education and slavery in
2013. Around the time of Georgetown’s announcement, he said: “Every
college that was established before the American Revolution has direct
ties to slavery.”
Carroll was a student government leader during his time at Brown.
Students there recently voted to ask the university to offer a program
similar to the one offered by Georgetown. It would help the descendants
of slaves “entangled with and/or afflicted by the university and the
Brown family.”
In addition to Georgetown and Brown, people are watching the
University of Chicago, the University of Virginia and the University of
Georgia.
The city of Athens is home to the University of Georgia. The city is trying
to make up for a 1960s plan that took over the properties of 50 Black
families in order to build student housing. Activists and students say
both the university and the city need to pay attention to the way the
construction hurt families.
Hattie Whitehead Thomas is now 72. She grew up in the Athens
neighborhood taken over by the school.

She said the school “needs to do more…and acknowledge what it did.”

The school has said that the student housing helped Black people
because students “from all racial and socioeconomic backgrounds” lived
there.
Earlier in 2021, the mayor of Athens signed a resolution that said the city
would take steps to make up for the harm caused when the land was
taken over.
Efforts to make up for the past
The University of Virginia, or UVA, in the town of Charlottesville, was
established by the third American president, Thomas Jefferson.
Jefferson was a slave owner.
Lawmakers in Virginia recently approved a program. It requires the
state’s five public colleges, including UVA, to identify the descendants of
enslaved people who worked on the land that the schools now occupy,
and offer them benefits. One of the benefits might be free college.
Cauline Yates says she is a descendant of one of Jefferson’s slaves. She
said the university needs to “stand up and honor our ancestors.”

Brian Coy is a UVA spokesperson. He said the school is not yet sure what
kind of offer it will make to the descendants of slaves. But he said UVA
created a memorial that recognizes the work enslaved people did for the
school.
Caine Jordan is a graduate student at the University of Chicago. He said
students there are upset that the university does not seem to be willing to
take full responsibility for how it dealt with Black people in the past.
The school removed markers honoring Stephen Douglas, a U.S. senator
from the 1800s who profited from slave labor. But the school said
Douglas has no connection with the university, which was founded after
the senator’s death. The University of Chicago president is expected to
make a statement noting the school’s commitment to racial fairness.
“All of it rings hollow if you’re founded on Black pain, and you’re not
willing to acknowledge that,” Jordan said.
Thomas and Carroll want people to continue to follow the stories at
Georgetown and Brown universities. Both schools say they will look for
ways to spend money on community projects that would help slave
descendants.
Thomas said observers need to pay attention to how the money is spent.
“The fear is that the university will use these funds for their own
purposes.”
In Rhode Island, one part of the Brown University plan is to spend
money to help local schools in Providence. However, Carroll notes that
most local students are not Black. “That’s not really a solution,” he said.
“In a way, it’s even more insulting.”
Davarian Baldwin is an American studies professor at Trinity College in
Hartford, Connecticut. He said the students and community members
should keep the pressure on the universities.
“(They) will do as little as they can get away with,” he said.
I’m Dan Friedell. And I’m Jill Robbins..

Words in This Story

descendant –n. someone who is related to a person or group of people
who lived in the past
graduate –v. to earn a degree showing official completion of studies at a
college or university
funds –n. (pl.) money
benefits –n. (pl.) money or something extra that is provided by an
employer or government to a worker or citizen
acknowledge –v. to accept or not deny the truth of some statement or
position
shift –n. a change in position or way of thinking
controversial - adj. relating to or causing much discussion,
disagreement, or argument : likely to produce controversy
entangle –v. to get (someone) involved in a confusing or difficult
situation — usually used as (be/get) entangled
afflict –v. to cause pain or suffering to (someone or something)
ring hollow –adj. describing a weak or empty statement
get away with –v. to do something without being held responsible
EDIT

Nozargan