{"id":346,"featured":0,"modified":"2026-04-17 19:57:15","latitude":41.82663230215400318456886452622711658477783203125,"longitude":-71.40404686015398283416288904845714569091796875,"title":"Stretching Towards Equality: The Slavery Memorial","subtitle":"","fullsize":"https://www.rhodetour.org/files/fullsize/e49b1ed09667c9c21a0150dcda4771f3.jpg","address":"71 Waterman St. Providence, RI 02912","all_locations":[],"zoom":19,"creator":["Maya Omori"],"description":"As you stand in front of the memorial, you see a ball and chain sunk into the ground. Walk a few steps closer, and you’ll see your reflection staring back at you. Text is etched lightly onto the surface on the nearby stone, and you likely must squint to make out the words: “Brown University was a beneficiary of this trade.”<br />\r\n<br />\r\nMusic might be playing, a Frisbee may be tossed nearby, but this space will be left alone on the Quiet Green. Like the institution of slavery in New England, the metal ball and chain are deeply embedded in the soil of this University. The sculpture invites contemplation, reflection, and exploration of the forced labor that occurred where you are standing. Take a moment to really pause here. Confront the discomfort that may come. If you lived in 1771, who would you identify more with? Henry Paget Esquire, Pero, or someone else? Anthony Bogues, Director of the Center for Slavery &amp; Justice, suggests that the Slavery Memorial is about recognizing the role of the philanthropists who endowed Brown in the transatlantic slave trade but importantly that history is built from “sedimented deposit” that continues to structure our present day life. <br />\r\n<br />\r\nAcclaimed artist Martin Puryear was unanimously chosen to create a memorial that would best acknowledge the university’s complicity and investment in the transatlantic slave trade. It was commissioned in 2007 as one of the many initiatives recommended after the release of the official report by the Steering Committee for Slavery and Justice created by Ruth J. Simmons, Brown’s then-president. The report concluded that Brown’s early benefactors participated in the slave trade and therefore, that the university has directly benefited from the institution of slavery. Not until 2003 when Simmons, a great-granddaughter of slaves, became president was the topic of Brown’s connections to slavery explicitly addressed. Uncovering these masked portraits of Brown seeks to confront the nearly forgotten history of slavery in New England, and while many centuries delayed, hopes to honor the enslaved individuals who built one of the cornerstones of our campus.","sponsor":null,"accessinfo":"Find the memorial between Hope College and Manning Hall on the Quiet Green.","lede":"","website":"<span><a href=\"https://www.brown.edu/initiatives/slavery-and-justice/\"><span>Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice</span></a></span>","related_resources":["\"Brown University Confronts Its Past Ties to Slavery.\" The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, no. 53 (2006): 33-34. <a href=\"http://www.jstor.org/stable/25073534\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\">http://www.jstor.org/stable/25073534</a>.","Baum, Deborah. \"Martin Puryear to Design Slavery Memorial.\" Martin Puryear to Design Slavery Memorial | News from Brown. Accessed March 16, 2019. <a href=\"https://news.brown.edu/articles/2012/02/puryear\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\">https://news.brown.edu/articles/2012/02/puryear</a>.","Slavery and Justice. Report. Brown University Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice, Brown University. 2003. <a href=\"http://www.brown.edu/Research/Slavery_Justice/documents/SlaveryAndJustice.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\">http://www.brown.edu/Research/Slavery_Justice/documents/SlaveryAndJustice.pdf</a>"],"factoids":[],"files":{"https://www.rhodetour.org/files/fullsize/e49b1ed09667c9c21a0150dcda4771f3.jpg":{"id":1404,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Slavery Memorial","description":"Part of the memorial has a mirrored surface, inviting contemplation and reflection. | Office of University Communications | September 21, 2018 | Nick Dentamaro | Brown University","thumbnail":"https://www.rhodetour.org/files/square_thumbnails/e49b1ed09667c9c21a0150dcda4771f3.jpg"},"https://www.rhodetour.org/files/fullsize/10fe8e2d8507f0c3d18afd49294af3cd.jpg":{"id":1383,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Slavery Memorial","description":"Martin Puryear was chosen to design this memorial to recognize Brown’s relationship with the transatlantic slave trade. Its design is intended to invite contemplation and reflection. | photograph by Maya Omori | 2007 | Martin Puryear","thumbnail":"https://www.rhodetour.org/files/square_thumbnails/10fe8e2d8507f0c3d18afd49294af3cd.jpg"},"https://www.rhodetour.org/files/fullsize/a5c03dea9b13b92c5e59136847428ab5.jpg":{"id":1384,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Label Accompanying Memorial","description":"How do we interact with memorials? What are the codes of conduct that we are expected to follow when commemorating death? In following the script, do we become more distant from the event or the person? | Photograph by Maya Omori","thumbnail":"https://www.rhodetour.org/files/square_thumbnails/a5c03dea9b13b92c5e59136847428ab5.jpg"},"https://www.rhodetour.org/files/original/7c0f28cc51ca53b8ad4b9e6e8a94f23e.mp4":{"id":1444,"mime-type":"video/mp4","title":"Interview with Professor Anthony Bogues, Director of the Center for Slavery &amp; Justice","description":"Anthony Bogues, Director of the Center for Slavery &amp; Justice, discusses the role and meaning behind the Slavery Memorial and its significant location in relation to University Hall. He describes the Memorial as a site “to come to and contemplate.” | March 2019 | Maya Omori","thumbnail":"https://www.rhodetour.org/files/square_thumbnails/7c0f28cc51ca53b8ad4b9e6e8a94f23e.jpg"}}}