Harvard Law memorial honours slaves owned by school’s founder

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Harvard Law School has installed a memorial honouring slaves who were owned by one of the school’s founders.

The large stone memorial’s plaque says it honours “the enslaved whose labour created wealth that made possible the founding of Harvard Law School.”

It also says, “May we pursue the highest ideals of law and justice in their memory.”

The school was founded in 1817 with money from Isaac Royall Jr., whose wealth came from slave labour on a sugar plantation in Antigua and a Massachusetts farm.

Law dean John Manning said at Tuesday’s unveiling that “to be true to our complicated history, we must also shine a light on what we are not proud of.”

The school last year abandoned a shield modeled after Royall’s family crest after students protested.