The Black Debt Problem

On March 3, the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study hosted a conference “to explore the relationship between slavery and universities.” During the conference, University President Drew G. Faust and journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates discussed the prospect of reparations for American slavery. As in previous discussions, President Faust did not directly charge Harvard with the responsibility to recompense for its involvement.

It strikes us as odd that President Faust—a historian who has dedicated much of her academic life to the study of the American Civil War (and therefore the history of American slavery)—could both acknowledge Harvard’s ties to slavery and simultaneously fail to articulate a plan of repayment. Preferring to confront the damning legacies of slavery and Jim Crow through small plaques and platitudes, President Faust has made it clear that the sins of the past are not directly transferrable to the present.

But how do we clear the iniquities of the past? How do we correct for historical injustices? What does it mean to erase our longstanding debts to previous generations? The answers to these questions are bound to the American conscience. And Harvard’s moral account continues to collect interest.

The maintenance of a system that subjugates black people in America is not accidental—it is a product of ideas promulgated at institutions of higher learning. Segregation, slavery, and racism are deeply tied to the American intellectual spirit. They are components of an epistemological ideology that was pioneered at Harvard University.

In the 19th century, Professor Louis Agassiz forwarded human polygenism, the theory that human races have separate evolutionary origins. Because of this racist ideology, the seemingly burgeoning solidarity between free blacks, poor whites, and European immigrants—who were all exploited by a system of cheap labor—was transformed into a relationship of division, mistrust, and bigotry. This prevented several opportunities for robust interracial cooperation within labor organizations. The intellectual development of scientific racism robbed black individuals of potential allies, thereby enabling America to dehumanize and criminalize black bodies en masse.

Harvard has continued to give credence and public platforms to individuals who endorse scientific racism. Take, for example, psychologist Richard Herrnstein, who, though an expert on pigeon behavior, claimed to have discovered a biological basis for human intelligence (and opportunely found that black people had lower IQ scores due in part to genetics). In collaboration with Charles Murray (designated a white nationalist by the Southern Poverty Law Center), Herrnstein published “The Bell Curve” in 1994. While one might hope to see some type of honest debate or discussion following the publishing of the book (something that critics always bellow when anything controversial occurs on college campuses), there was little to none.

Dehumanization (on the basis of intelligence or natural ability) is an often-used justification for inequality. And it is deeply linked to the ways that we selectively understate the harm borne by certain groups. Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker, in his book, “The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined”, argues that “it’s a good time in history to be a potential victim.” By peddling intellectual excuses for oppression, he is ironically celebrated for his intellectual bravery. Unfortunately, the legacy of Harvard University is one in which too modest a space has been granted to progressive scholars and too large a space has been reserved for apologists of oppression.

Apologists and apologies do nothing to ameliorate historical trauma. Though newly freed black individuals, the white working class, and European immigrants might have created coalitions to challenge the status quo following the abolition of slavery, elite institutions such as Harvard dedicated resources and platforms to individuals who would continue to distort the working class identity in America.

Harvard’s legacy is also tied to the Christian ministry. Although Christianity was a tool used to legitimize racial hierarchies, the religious abolitionists who fought against slavery understood that moral debts are not easily repaid.

President Faust and administrators have once again chosen to defer the repayment of Harvard’s moral debt to Black America. But unlike God, they lack the power to deliver themselves from debts of the soul.

“The past never dies or disappears. It continues to shape us in ways we should not try to erase or ignore.”—President Drew Gilpin Faust