NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — Columbia University is planning to add historical markers to four residence halls which will acknowledge legacies of slavery and racism as well commemorate notable African American students, Reuters reported.
A professor told Reuters Tuesday that the markers are part of a university-wide project which began after the murder of George Floyd in May 2020.
Led by the university’s president, Lee Bollinger, two of the signs will be placed at the John Jay and 50 Haven Avenue residence halls. The Haven Avenue hall, formerly called Bard Hall, and John Jay residence both hold the names of slave owners John Jay and Samuel Bard who had close ties to Columbia.
Another marker will be placed at Furnals Hall which will tell the story of a 1924 event when members of the Ku Klux Klan burned a seven-foot-tall wooden cross nearby in their robes and hoods. At the time, the dorm housed the first Black student to live on-campus at Columbia during the academic year, Frederick W. Wells.
Hartley Hall will get a plaque acknowledging the high number of students of color who lived there in the early 20th century, including poet Langston Hughes, Columbia Professor Thai Jones told Reuters.
Other schools like Harvard Law School, Rutgers University, the University of Mississippi and the University of South Carolina have also set out to acknowledge the school’s relationship to slavery.
The markers are scheduled to be installed in the fall as digital monitors which, according to Jones, could eventually become permanent plaques.
Related
Related
