Shackled Legacy: Universities and the Slave Trade

A growing number of colleges and universities in the eastern United States are confronting their historic ties to the slave trade. Profits from slavery and related industries helped build some of the most prestigious schools in New England. In many Southern states, enslaved people built and maintained college campuses. This documentary focuses on three universities — Harvard, Georgetown and the University of Virginia — as they grapple with a deeply troubling chapter in their vaunted histories. At the crux of the story is the question of how these institutions might make amends for the ways they participated in American slavery and the moral, political and practical issues under-riding that question.Producers: Stephen Smith and Kate EillisAirs on WSQX Radio Saturday, September 9, 2017 at noon.