On Thursday, Jan. 23, Harvard University disbanded its Slavery Remembrance Program (HSRP) and fired its staff.
The program, which managed a $100 million endowment for the Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery initiative, was responsible for identifying descendants of individuals enslaved by the university’s founders.
According to the Harvard Crimson, the university has outsourced the job to a New England non-profit organization, American Ancestors, best known for its 10 Million Names project and an external research partner of the university.
The move, the Crimson reports, was not accompanied by any advance warning or discussion of any potential layoffs, according to HSRP Director Richard J. Cellini and research fellow Wayne J. Tucker. One week prior to their firing, Cellini and his team met with the prime minister and governor general of Antigua and Barbuda for the purposes of potentially establishing a research presence there.
The HSRP had discovered that there were several hundred people enslaved by individuals associated with Harvard founders between 1660 and 1885.
According to a previous investigation by the Crimson, in September 2024, Cellini alleged that Harvard’s Vice Provost for Special Projects Sara N. Bleich, instructed him and the HSRP “not to find too many descendants.”
“I have told officials at the highest level of the University that they only have two options: fire me, or let the HSRP do this work properly,” Cellini told the student-run newspaper.
Four months later, Cellini got his answer. “Today Harvard fired me,” he texted the Crimson. “So now we know.”
In a press release, Harvard confirmed the expansion of American Ancestors’ involvement with the university.
“Thanks to the extensive work they have already done on the genealogies of enslaved people, American Ancestors brings an exceptional ability to scale the enormous effort the university has ahead of it,” said Henry Louis Gates Jr., a member of the Legacy of Slavery initiative advisory council and a member of the advisory board for 10 Million Names.
He continued, “The University takes seriously the thoughtfulness and care that will go into engaging with living direct descendants, and that engagement will be based around rigorous and thorough research this partnership will advance in literally rebuilding family histories.”
Ryan J. Woods, the President and CEO of American Ancestors, said “in this expanded role, American Ancestors is dedicated to upholding the highest standards of professional genealogical research to uncover the identities of individuals enslaved by Harvard leadership, faculty, or staff, and to document their descendants.”
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