© 2026 WRVO Public Media
NPR News for Central New York
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Shackled legacy: Universities and the slave trade

Ellender Memorial Library, Nicholls State University

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 will focus 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 undergirding that question.

Tune in for more from APM Reports this Sunday, September 17 at 7 p.m. on WRVO.

WRVO is now well into its second year without federal funding. Through it all, our mission has stayed the same: serving central and upstate New York with trusted journalism, vital local coverage, and the diverse programming that informs and connects our communities. Listeners like you are what keep journalists on the ground, asking the hard questions that matter to our region.

Stand with public media and make your gift today. You'll be supporting more than yourself. You'll be supporting everyone who depends on WRVO as a trusted resource and civic cornerstone in central and upstate New York.