Spring 2020

Undergraduate researchers are the driving force behind the Penn & Slavery Project. The students have set and exceeded their independent research goals. They have conducted archival research and found crucial connections between the University of Pennsylvania and the institution of slavery. Additionally, students have highlighted the ways these connections have shaped the larger history of the United States. Summaries of their research are featured throughout this site, organized by subject, and individual reports can be found in their entirety, organized by semester.

Students during the spring semester 2020 had an especially challenging task. Most had begun their research before the pandemic closures but were unable to continue visiting archives to complete their work. The shift to digitized sources changed the scope of several student projects. Many thanks to Senior Archivist Jim Duffin and geneaologist Scott Wilds for helping students make this transition so smoothly.