Filed under: News, Race and Civil Rights
Atlanta is a black Mecca, where education, segregation and religion collide, so it should come as no surprise that it has taken 175 years for Methodist institute of higher learning Emory University -- founded by slave owner and Methodist bishop John Emory -- to acknowledge that the school was built on the backs of slaves and sustained by pro-slavery rhetoric.
I'm just glad it finally did.
"We've talked about African Americans on campus before, but now we're talking about Emory and African Americans," senior Kyle Black said. "As a black student, I think it's good they've admitted mistakes from the past. Emory is a great school and this just shows it. Now we can talk about it, so let's just talk about it."
Emory not only supported slavery in an abstract or physical sense, but in an academic way too.
In commemoration of the institution's 175th birthday, senior Patrick Jamieson will present a paper at a four-day conference in Newton, Ga., where about 30 public and private colleges will examine the role of slavery at institutions of higher learning in the United States.
With the theme "Slavery and the University: Histories and Legacies," Jamieson will be discussing Emory's "intellectual investment in slavery." He will also address the shameful fact that professors and leaders used classroom lectures to legitimize "the peculiar institution."
The conference will also serve as the introduction to Emory's new program designed to examine the university's past and its relationship with race and slavery.
Apparently, a great deal has changed since 1902, when the university forced professor Andrew Sledd to resign after he published an article condemning lynching.
Justifiably, some have questioned Emory's motives, pointing out that a renewed focus on diversity has opened up a well of increased federal funding; however, Emory has consistently led the way in green energy, scientific innovation and medical research while remaining one of the most selective schools in the United States.
Clearly, the university can use all the funding it can get, but there was no need to actively address its shameful role in this country's turbulent past, which is honorable.
"Emory regrets both this undeniable wrong and the university's decades of delay in acknowledging slavery's harmful legacy," President James Wagner said in a statement. "As Emory University looks forward, it seeks the wisdom always to discern what is right and the courage to abide by its mission of using knowledge to serve humanity."
An apology, Wagner said, could be viewed as "inappropriate and an attempt to force today's value and our own words in the mouths of the dead."
"If we think society must admit its mistakes so it can deal with future challenges, then Emory must live by those words as well," Wagner continued. "We want our students to lead, and we want to model on our campus, and in our community, what a better world could look like."
On a campus with 13,381 students, only 10.4 percent are African American. So when in 2003, amid growing concerns over Emory's diversity, a professor reportedly uttered the N-word during a department celebration, Wagner knew something had to be done."I will not guarantee that there won't be other racial incidents on campus," Wagner said. "If anything, there will be, but we will be better equipped to handle them."
Wagner's brilliant decision to not patronize the African American community with an inauthentic, posthumous apology impresses me more than any politically correct program Emory could conceive.
Hopefully, this is the beginning of a difficult national discussion that will potentially lead to tangible increases in equality and sensitivity on college campuses across the country.