Davidson College Apologizes For Schools Ties To Slavery

DAVIDSON, NC — Davidson College issued a public apology for its ties to and complicity in slavery Wednesday, announcing it is adopting a racial equity action plan that includes ensuring living wages for campus workers and reviewing the names of key spaces, including an iconic building named in honor of an early benefactor of the school who engaged in slave trading.

The college is "obligated to shed light on and speak the truth about our own actions, past and present," Davidson College President Carol Quillen said in a video message.

The formal apology and action plan was recommended by the Commission on Race and Slavery, which was created by the college in 2017 to investigate the school's ties to slavery.

"That relationship is clear and unambiguous," Qillen said. "From 1837 to 1865, Davidson College benefited from creativity, labor and talent stolen from Black people. By participating in and profiting from slavery, by condoning it and in some cases ardently defending it, members of the Davidson community helped to sustain and perpetuate this horrific institution."

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"We acknowledge, regret and offer our deepest apology for the College’s complicity in perpetuating slavery," she said.

The Davidson College Board of Trustees unanimously supported the commissions report and recommendations, which included a proposal to rename the Chambers Building, named in honor of Maxwell Chambers, a cotton trader and planter from Salisbury, left the school $260,000 in 1855. "As a cotton trader, a significant part of his wealth came from the labor of enslaved people," the commission's report said.

"The Board of Trustees is establishing a committee to review naming policies and the names of key spaces," college spokesperson Jay Pfeifer told Patch. "College leaders will consider the history of named spaces on Davidson’s campus and necessary actions related to those spaces."

Other actions recommended by the committee include:

• Making antiracism education mandatory for all faculty, staff and students in 2020-2021
• Ensuring all regular college employees make a living wage
• Campus police will hear and address concerns with students of color
• Establish a website that expands public access to school materials on race and slavery
• Hire four tenure-track professors housed partly or entirely in Africana Studies over the next four years

More information about the college's apology and action plan recommended by the Davidson College Commission on Race and Slavery's full report may be found here.