----- Original Message ----- From: "Joel Perry" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "'RollTideFan'" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, April 19, 2004 8:11 AM Subject: [RollTideFan] Should they? (Actually Bama Related)
> UA faculty considers apologizing for campus slavery > By JAY REEVES > The Associated Press > 4/19/2004, 12:02 a.m. CT > TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) -- Vestiges of slavery are all over the University of > Alabama. > Behind the majestic president's mansion are three small buildings where > slaves lived and worked before the Civil War. The mansion and several other > campus structures contain bricks made by slaves. > Teachers of the antebellum period owned slaves, and two buildings are named > for university presidents who did, too. Another hall honors a doctor who > advocated the idea that blacks were genetically fit for slavery. > With all these reminders and more lingering at a university that is now > among the most racially integrated in the South, leaders are making a break > with the sins of the past. > The Faculty Senate on Tuesday will consider a resolution apologizing to the > descendants of people who were enslaved at Alabama, founded in 1831 and > mostly destroyed by Union troops during the war before being rebuilt. > President Robert Witt said he "doesn't have a problem" with the apology if > it is a beginning rather than an end to the university's attempts to become > more diverse and inclusive. > "If it does stop there we fail," Witt said in an interview. "I am afraid > some think words are enough. I do not." > Last week, with momentum for the apology building, Witt agreed to the > requests of students and teachers who asked administrators to acknowledge > the school's links to slavery with historic markers, including one near the > unmarked graves of two slaves buried on campus. > The author of the proposed apology, law professor Alfred Brophy, said the > resolution is more about making a statement of acceptance today than > stirring up the hurts of the 1800s. > While reparations for slave descendants and apologies have been discussed > for several years nationwide, no other university has apologized for its > ties to slavery, Brophy said. > "I hope this will be something positive for the university," said Brophy, > walking near a campus building he said may have been built in part with > slave labor. > The proposal has critics, however. > Brophy, with degrees from Columbia University and Yale University, has been > lambasted on talk radio shows, and the Web site of the school newspaper is > sprinkled with criticism. > A faculty member who opposes the apology called slavery "the great American > tragedy" - an indelible, horrid part of American culture. > Because of that, said music professor Marvin Johnson, the idea that an > apology could do any good is demeaning to blacks who were enslaved, poor > whites who suffered under the antebellum economic system and faculty members > of the 1800s who were following a practice of their time. > "It's not going to fix anything," said Johnson. "You can't `apologize' for > slavery. It's a drastic oversimplification." > Alabama isn't the only school reviewing its ties to slavery. Brown > University in Providence, R.I., last month began a two-year inquiry into its > links to the slave trade. > But race is a particularly sensitive topic at Alabama, which last year > marked the 40th anniversary of then-Gov. George C. Wallace's showy "stand in > the schoolhouse door" to prevent integration in 1963. > Brophy, who has written on race and property laws in early America, came to > Alabama in 2001. A campus diversity group asked him last year to present a > talk on slavery at the university, which today has about 20,000 students, 15 > percent of whom are from minority groups. > Research assistants found texts and records documenting the use of slaves at > Alabama, which had only a half-dozen or so faculty members and about 100 > students when the Civil War began. > Brophy said he was amazed by some of what they found: > Basil Manly, a prominent Baptist minister who served as university president > from 1838 to 1855 and gave the invocation at the inauguration of Confederate > President Jefferson Davis, owned slaves and was a leading apologist for > slavery, Brophy said. Today, Manly Hall is named for him. > Nott Hall is named for Josiah Nott, remembered today mainly as a proponent > of the theory that different races of people had different origins, and that > blacks were genetically built for slavery. > Besides the president's mansion and an old observatory that survived the > war, Brophy said, slave labor went into Gorgas House, built in 1829 and the > oldest building on campus. A historic marker outside the house tells of the > family it was named for, but it doesn't mention the slaves who helped build > it and, for a time, lived there. > Brophy said that while he would like to see the names of some buildings > altered to acknowledge the early role of blacks at Alabama, he doesn't > believe anything should be removed, including a stone marker honoring > students who served in the Confederate army. > Manly Hall could become Manly-Luna Hall to acknowledge a campus slave named > Luna, he said. > "You want to have monuments to the people of the past. But let other people > have their monuments, too," said Brophy. > Witt doesn't support the idea of renaming campus structures. Rather, he > said, new things should be added to give a broader portrait of the > university's past. > With the Faculty Senate set to vote on Brophy's resolution, his work already > has had an impact. > Last week, about 80 people attended a ceremony organized by black students > to remember two slaves known only as Jack and Boysey who were interred near > the old campus cemetery. > Witt announced the new historic markers and other acknowledgments of > Alabama's ties to slavery after meeting with organizers of the ceremony, > which he attended rather than going to a trustee meeting. > Robert Turner, a senior from Tuskegee who helped organize the event, said it > is important for the university to tell the whole truth about what happened > on campus during the antebellum period. > "The university has a duty to own up to its past," said Turner. > > > > ______________________________________________________ > RollTideFan - The University of Alabama Athletics Discussion List > > "Welcome to RollTideFan! Wear a cup!" > > To join or leave the list or to make changes to your subscription visit http://listinfo.rolltidefan.net ______________________________________________________ RollTideFan - The University of Alabama Athletics Discussion List "Welcome to RollTideFan! Wear a cup!" To join or leave the list or to make changes to your subscription visit http://listinfo.rolltidefan.net
