Week 4: Slave Trade Blog Assignment

Slave Trade Exhibition

This exhibition explores historical ties to slavery and the slave trade in Cambridge, MA, revealing how key benefactors built their fortunes from enslaved labor and the trade of slave-produced goods. Drawing from Harvard’s archives, artworks, and rare book collections, the exhibition connects these financial and historical legacies to Harvard’s development in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Harvard Square and the 19th-Century Slave Economy

Harvard Square, part of Boston’s thriving commercial network, played a critical role in the global economy of the 19th century, which was deeply connected to slavery. Boston, as a key port, facilitated the exchange of goods like sugar, coffee, cotton, and tobacco produced by enslaved labor on Caribbean and Southern plantations. Harvard benefited from this economy through donations from merchants and businessmen whose wealth derived from the slave trade.

Displayed from Harvard’s Map Collection, these maps—initially funded by Israel Thorndike—trace Boston Harbor’s trade routes, showing the intricate connections between New England, the Caribbean, and Southern states. These routes were vital in shipping goods produced by enslaved labor, establishing Harvard’s economic ties to the slave trade.

The financial success of Boston—and by extension, Harvard—was inextricably linked to the wealth generated by enslaved labor in the Caribbean and Southern U.S. plantations.

Robert Salmon’s painting, Boston Harbor from Constitution Wharf (1842), visually represents the city’s thriving trade, including the traffic in slave-produced goods.Boston Harbor’s trade routes, showcasing connections between Harvard and Caribbean colonies. Archival maps from Harvard’s Map Collection (initially funded by Israel Thorndike).  

The Perkins Family

The Perkins brothers, James and Thomas Handasyd Perkins, amassed a fortune from trading enslaved people and goods produced by enslaved labor in the Caribbean. They were significant donors to Harvard, directly contributing to the University’s academic growth. In 1842, James Perkins endowed Harvard’s Perkins Professorship of Astronomy and Mathematics using wealth derived from his involvement in the Caribbean slave trade, particularly in St. Domingue (Haiti) before the Haitian Revolution. The wealth accumulated by the Perkins family through the exploitation of enslaved labor directly supported Harvard’s academic development, highlighting how intertwined the University’s progress was with the system of slavery.

A portrait of James Perkins, a former slave trader in St. Domingue before the Haitian Revolution from Harvard Peabody Museum.

letters from James and his wife, Sarah Paine Perkins, written from St. Domingue, discussing their views on slavery from Harvard's archives.

Israel Thorndike

Israel Thorndike, a prominent Boston merchant, played a significant role in the trade of slave-produced goods such as sugar, molasses, and rum. His wealth contributed to the founding of key Harvard institutions, including the Harvard Divinity School. Thorndike's business ventures included shipping goods between New England and the Caribbean, where plantations relied on the labor of enslaved Africans. His wealth, derived from these trade networks, supported Harvard libraries and the founding of Harvard Divinity School. Thorndike’s fortune, and his generous donations to Harvard, were built on the trade of goods produced by enslaved labor, linking the University’s growth to the global system of slavery.

Portrait of Israel Thorndike from Harvard Peabody Museum. 

The Royall Family
The Royall family was among the wealthiest in colonial Massachusetts, building their fortune through the transatlantic slave trade and the operation of sugar plantations in Antigua. Isaac Royall Jr.’s bequest to Harvard helped establish the Royall Professorship of Law, which remains a foundational part of Harvard Law School’s history. Isaac Royall Jr. inherited his family’s vast wealth in 1739, generated by sugar plantations that relied on the labor of enslaved people. The Royall family estate in Medford, Massachusetts, was home to 12-27 enslaved individuals—far more than the typical number in New England households. Upon Isaac Royall Jr.’s death in 1781, he left properties to Harvard, and the sale of these properties funded the establishment of the Royall Professorship of Law in 1815. This professorship was Harvard's first endowed law chair and laid the foundation for Harvard Law School. The Royall family’s wealth, rooted in slavery, directly funded the creation of Harvard’s Law School, demonstrating how deeply Cambridge's early success was tied to the exploitation of enslaved labor.

Abolition of Slavery

The discourse delivered at the African Meeting-House in Boston on July 14, 1808, by Jedidiah Morse, celebrates the abolition of the African slave trade by the governments of the United States, Great Britain, and Denmark. This speech marks a critical moment in the history of slavery in New England and reflects the complex attitudes toward abolition in the early 19th century. The abolition of the transatlantic slave trade was a pivotal event in history, but it contrasts with Cambridge's continued financial ties to the institution of slavery during the same period.

Discourse given by Jedidiah Morse, D.D. Pastor of the Congregational Church in Boston found from Harvard's Rare Book Collection at the Houghton Library. 

Cambridge’s Deep Ties to Slavery and the Legacy of Wealth

Cambridge, home to Harvard University, was not an isolated academic enclave, but an integral part of the broader economic and social structures that profited from slavery. The city's financial and institutional success was built on wealth generated by the exploitation of enslaved labor, particularly through the slave-produced goods that flowed through Boston’s commercial networks. Key figures like the Perkins brothers, Israel Thorndike, and the Royall family channeled their fortunes, amassed from the brutal trade and labor of enslaved people, into building Harvard’s academic institutions. Even as the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade was celebrated in places like Boston’s African Meeting-House, Cambridge and Harvard continued to benefit from the profits of slavery well into the 19th century.

The exhibition shows how deeply the legacy of slavery is woven into Cambridge’s past. As we reckon with this history, it is crucial to understand how the wealth of enslaved labor supported not only the financial success of Harvard University but also the broader development of Cambridge as a prosperous intellectual and cultural center. This recognition serves as a call to confront and address the ongoing impacts of these historical injustices today.

Citations:

"Harvard Affiliates, Slavery, and the Slave Trade into the 19th Century." Harvard and the Legacy of Slavery, Harvard University, https://legacyofslavery.harvard.edu/report/harvard-affiliates-slavery-and-the-slave-trade-into-the-19th-century. Accessed 25 Sept. 2024.    

"The Legacy of Isaac Royall Jr." Harvard Law School Shield Exhibit, Harvard University, https://curiosity.lib.harvard.edu/hls-shield-exhibit/feature/the-legacy-of-isaac-royall-jr. Accessed 25 Sept. 2024.

Morse, Jedidiah. A Discourse, Delivered at the African Meeting-House, in Boston, July 14, 1808, in Grateful Celebration of the Abolition of the African Slave-Trade, by the Governments of the United States, Great Britain and Denmark. 1808, Early American Imprints. Accessed via Readex: America’s Historical Newspapers, Harvard University, https://infoweb-newsbank-com.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu/apps/readex/docp=EVAN&docref=image/v2%3A0F2B1FCB879B099B 40EAIX-0F3015D3C0315CB8%4010546-%401. Accessed 25 Sept. 2024.