Enslaved People

The student researchers of the Penn & Slavery Project have worked tirelessly to uncover information about the lives of enslaved people who were connected to the university. However, while the archives provide ample information about powerful white men who helped create the university, the information about the lived experience of enslaved people is much harder to find. The archival records are fragmentary and leave many questions unanswered.

This project began by using tax records and wills to uncover the number of people enslaved by 18th century trustees and faculty. But the project strives to assemble the archival fragments and collect information that can tell us who was enslaved.

**Note**: This is a working list of the information we have uncovered about the enslaved people with direct connections to the University of Pennsylvania. We want to avoid reproducing the language that centers enslavers and do our best to reframe the narratives to center enslaved people themselves... we will update this list as we do this intellectual work.