Penn & Slavery Project

Penn & Slavery

Since 2017, undergraduates of the University of Pennsylvania have been conducting research to uncover the connections between their university and the institution of slavery. The project began with five members researching the university’s early founders and early faculty who owned enslaved people.

Since then, the project has grown in size and scope. Students have investigated the university’s financial connections to slavery, and the scientific racism researched and taught in Penn’s early medical school. Penn’s relationship to slavery is complicated, and calls into question our understanding of “complicity.” The undergraduate researchers are dedicated to learning as much as possible and sharing it with the public.