Harvard pledges $100 million to atone for role in slavery

BOSTON (AP) — Harvard University is vowing to spend $100 million to research and atone for its ties with slavery. Harvard President Lawrence Bacow announced the funding Tuesday (April 26, 2022) alongside a new report detailing many ways the college benefited from slavery and perpetuated racial inequality. The report found that Harvard’s faculty, staff and leaders enslaved more than 70 Black and Native American people from the school’s founding in 1636 to 1783. The report says the university “should make a significant monetary commitment, and it should invest in remedies of equal or greater breadth than other universities.” But it stops short of recommending direct financial reparations.