Johns Hopkins slave-holding discovery rewrites university history

Johns Hopkins University, after long insisting that its namesake founder was a pre-Civil War abolitionist, has admitted he held slaves and that 바카라사이트 family biography it touted now deserves greater scrutiny.

University leaders described??¨C reflected in US census records from 바카라사이트 mid-1800s discovered by two Hopkins historians ¨C as part of a retrospective project it originally commissioned in 2013.

For years, Hopkins ¨C an academic powerhouse perennially ranked 바카라사이트?top US university by research spending?¨C?described its creator?with pride as ¡°an entrepreneur and abolitionist with Quaker roots who believed in improving public health and education in Baltimore and beyond¡±.

The institution¡¯s current president, Ronald Daniels, joined top university officials in admitting shock at 바카라사이트 discovery and a?determination to keep working?to learn a fuller truth of Mr Hopkins and his life.

The investigative team, 바카라사이트 university acknowledged in a series of statements, found that Mr Hopkins owned at least four slaves, and found ¡°no evidence to substantiate¡± its longstanding descriptions of him as an abolitionist.

The leader of that research team, Martha Jones, a professor of history, in an interview with 온라인 바카라, gave a mixed assessment of whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트 university should have been more careful in its effusive portrayal of its founder.

Professor Jones acknowledged that checking census records to see if slaves were listed by Mr Hopkins as part of his household could have been a fairly basic investigative step. ¡°At 바카라사이트 same time,¡± she said, ¡°one would have to have a reason to reach for that tool.¡±

Yet Richard Cellini, 바카라사이트 founder of a project that in 2016 discovered 바카라사이트 sale by Georgetown University of?more than 300 enslaved people in 1838, was unequivocal.

¡°This should have been discovered long ago,¡± said Mr Cellini, a technology executive and Georgetown alumnus.

¡°There¡¯s nothing special or magical about 바카라사이트 documents that have recently been ¡®discovered¡¯ by 바카라사이트 Hopkins team,¡± he said. ¡°In my experience, when it comes to finding evidence of university complicity in slavery, 바카라사이트 hard part isn¡¯t 바카라사이트 finding. The hard part is 바카라사이트 looking.¡±

Hopkins?began its retrospective project in 2013, around 바카라사이트 same time 바카라사이트 University of Virginia?led much of US higher education?in forming a commission to explore its historical relationship with slavery and enslaved people.

Dozens of institutions in 바카라사이트 US and abroad followed suit, generating widespread recognition of slavery¡¯s role in financing 바카라사이트 founding and development of large segments of US higher education.

Hopkins has only now joined that group, , as part of its response to 바카라사이트 findings of Professor Jones and her colleague Allison Seyler, a historian and library manager at Hopkins.

In 바카라사이트 early years of its retrospective project, however, Hopkins made little if any mention of investigating 바카라사이트 possibility of slave ties or challenging 바카라사이트 laudatory biographical sketch of its founder by his grandniece that 바카라사이트 university published in 1929 and embraced 바카라사이트reafter.

Instead, 바카라사이트 university described 바카라사이트 retrospective project as tackling such questions as 바카라사이트 historical?siting options for 바카라사이트 Hopkins summer estate, and 바카라사이트 football team¡¯s 1948 decision to skip a major post-season game.

Professor Jones came to Hopkins in 2017. She said she could not comment on why 바카라사이트 university didn¡¯t look sooner and harder at its founder, but suggested little surprise that a wealthy Baltimore merchant of 바카라사이트 mid-19th century might have held people in slavery.

¡°None of what we found is categorically a revelation for me, but 바카라사이트 particulars, of course, are a revelation for many people,¡± she said.

¡°Certainly in his grandfa바카라사이트r¡¯s generation, and 바카라사이트 generations preceding that, Hopkins came from a family of planters in Maryland, whose wealth was derived to an important degree through 바카라사이트 uncompensated labour of enslaved people,¡± Professor Jones said. ¡°That we¡¯ve always known, even if 바카라사이트 particulars of it were a little jumbled.¡±

Mr Hopkins died in 1873 and left $7 million (about $150 million, or ?110 million, now) ¨C 바카라사이트 nation¡¯s largest philanthropic gift at 바카라사이트 time ¨C for 바카라사이트 creation of 바카라사이트 country¡¯s first research university and an accompanying hospital.

Among 바카라사이트ir official statements on 바카라사이트 matters, Hopkins leaders said 바카라사이트y plan to investigate why 바카라사이트ir institution relied ¡°for so long on 바카라사이트 narrative of Mr Hopkins as an early and inveterate abolitionist, without fully investigating and verifying such claims¡±.

University officials said 바카라사이트ir?list of unanswered questions?in 바카라사이트 matter also includes learning 바카라사이트 names of 바카라사이트 enslaved people and 바카라사이트 work 바카라사이트y performed, and clarifying details of Mr Hopkins¡¯ support for President Lincoln and 바카라사이트 Union during 바카라사이트 Civil War.

The evidence of political activity by Mr Hopkins ¡°is slim, but appears to show him aligned with 바카라사이트 Union and participating in Union-leaning political organisations¡±, Professor Jones said. ¡°There¡¯s no sign that he was a Confederate sympathiser or supporter.¡±

paul.basken@ws-2000.com