Cash-strapped in the 1700s, Harvard served as the first institutional bank in New England, handing out loans in a society that was heavily entwined with the Caribbean slave economy. 

In our first episode, we explore the university’s ties slavery, answering questions like how many Harvard affiliates were slaveowners? In what ways did Harvard benefit financially from the Atlantic Slave Trade? And what happened on campus during the abolitionist movement?

Further Information:
Harvard and Slavery: Seeking a Forgotten History by Sven Beckert, Katherine Stevens, and the students of the Harvard and Slavery Research Seminar
Ebony and Ivy: Race, Slavery, and the Troubled History of America’s Universities by Craig Steven Wilder 
Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery Initiative