CHAPEL HILL, N.C.

In the early decades of the nation's oldest public university, students at the University of North Carolina had servants that kindled fires in their rooms and cut wood to fuel their stoves.

And at the school that's so proud of its history, archivists have uncovered and are now displaying publicly evidence that those servants were slaves.

“I think it's important for us to know our own history and to be honest about it,'' said Chancellor James Moeser.

“This university was built by slaves and free Blacks,'' Moeser added. “We need to be candid about that, acknowledge their contributions.''

The University of North Carolina, chartered in 1789, is among several institutions of higher learning, joining banks and other financial firms, that have taken recent steps to research and recognize their historic ties to the slave trade.

North Carolina archivists were searching through records as part of a project on the university's first 100 years when they found records that confirmed slaves helped construct campus' buildings. Other records showed that both faculty and university board members owned slaves.

The research is now on display as part of an on-campus exhibit — “Slavery and the Making of the University: Celebrating Our Unsung Heroes, Bond and Free'' — that includes photographs, letters, bills of sale for slaves, and other documents. In one letter, the wife of the school's first law professor wrote her husband that university President David Lowry Swain wanted to hire “Harry” for work, pledging she would “hire Harry out whenever I can.''

Last April, the faculty senate at the University of Alabama apologized to the descendants of slaves who were owned by faculty members or who worked on campus in the years before the Civil War. The school also erected a marker near the graves of two slaves on campus.

And at Brown University in Rhode Island, a committee is examining the school's historic ties to the slave trade and recommending whether and how the college should take responsibility. A report on the findings is due by the end of the fall semester.

“We clearly do live in a society that has a persistent pattern of racial disparity and I think most people would agree that that has something to do with our history,'' said Dr. James Campbell, a history professor at Brown and the chairman of the committee. “If you care about that pattern of disparity, then it seems to me one of the things that is incumbent on you is to try to find out how we got here.''

Just how many schools have ties to the slave trade remains unknown, since so much information has been concealed, said Harvard law professor Charles Ogletree. But he believes those found to have had links to slavery should pay reparations.

In the business world, some banks and financial services firms have conducted similar investigations, often to comply with local governments demanding such an accounting of past ties to the slave trade, and have followed in some cases with financial donations.

Charlotte-based Wachovia Corp. committed an undisclosed sum to support Black history education a few days after announcing that two of its predecessor banks owned slaves. New York-based JPMorgan Chase & Co. gave $5 million to support college scholarships for Black students in Louisiana, where two of its predecessor banks received thousands of slaves as collateral.

At North Carolina, the university has made several efforts to recognize the school's links to slavery. A class is offered on the history of the Blacks at the school. A monument, to be dedicated next month, was installed last May that honors slaves and free Blacks who helped build the school.

And when the new exhibit opened, the university sponsored a discussion led by university professors called “That the Truth May Set us Free: Examining Our Slaveholding Past.''

Meanwhile, those doing research at North Carolina say they hope the exhibit is a beginning of new discovery about the school's past. Archivists said the exhibit was not an attempt to expose unknown secrets, but rather share materials that add to the university's history.

“I think it is important that we do this since we are the oldest university,'' said Susan Ballinger, assistant university archivist. “The chancellor has said over and over again that it's critical for the university to be honest about its past. He wants our history told fully, warts and all.''

— Associated Press

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