Updated 5:41 PM ET, Wed December 9, 2020
Census data from 1840 and 1850 show Johns Hopkins owned enslaved people. He founded Johns Hopkins University in 1876. (CNN)The founder and namesake for one of the top medical schools in the nation owned enslaved people in the mid-1800s, Johns Hopkins University leadership announced Wednesday in a letter.
Census records indicate Johns Hopkins owned one enslaved person in 1840 and four in 1850, according to the school. The information came to light via the Hopkins Retrospective, a university effort to deeply explore the institution s history. Hopkins founded JHU in 1876 and opened the hospital in 1889. The fact that Mr. Hopkins had, at any time in his life, a direct connection to slavery . is a difficult revelation for us, as we know it will be for our community, at home and abroad, and most especially our Black faculty, students, staff, and alumni, the JHU letter read.
Johns Hopkins, Long Believed An Abolitionist, Actually Owned Slaves, University Says
Thursday, December 10, 2020
The founder of Johns Hopkins University was discovered to be a slaveowner in contradiction to the long-held narrative that the philanthropist was an abolitionist.
Rob Carr / Getty Images
Historians for Johns Hopkins University discovered that the founder of the Baltimore-based school owned slaves, contrary to the long-held belief that the wealthy philanthropist was a staunch abolitionist.
Researchers Martha S. Jones and Allison Seyler made the discovery after delving into previously undiscovered government census records as part of a university-led project on the school s history.
The findings complicate the understanding the Johns Hopkins community has toward its founder, wrote University President Ronald J. Daniels and other school officials in an open letter Wednesday.
Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what s clicking on Foxnews.com.
Johns Hopkins University heralded its founder s abolitionism for nearly a century, but a reexamination of the school s history recently revealed that Johns Hopkins actually owned several slaves. The fact that Mr. Hopkins had, at any time in his life, a direct connection to slavery a crime against humanity that tragically persisted in the state of Maryland until 1864 is a difficult revelation for us, as we know it will be for our community, at home and abroad, and most especially our Black faculty, students, staff, and alumni, Johns Hopkins University leaders wrote in a letter to the school community Wednesday.
Johns Hopkins namesake and founder was slaveowner, contrasting longstanding abolitionist narrative
Officials said census records show he was a slaveowner during the mid-1800s.
“Earlier this year, through research conducted as part of the longstanding Hopkins Retrospective institutional history project, Johns Hopkins University leaders became aware of census records listing Mr. Hopkins as holding enslaved people in his Baltimore home in 1840 and 1850,” a spokesperson said. “Johns Hopkins University and Hospital – both founded after Mr. Hopkins’ death and after the Civil War never held enslaved people.”
“The fact that Mr. Hopkins had, at any time in his life, a direct connection to slavery – a crime against humanity that tragically persisted in the state of Maryland until 1864 – is a difficult revelation for us, as we know it will be for our community, especially for our Black faculty, students, staff, alumni and neighbors,” the university continued in a statem
Johns Hopkins, Long Believed An Abolitionist, Actually Owned Slaves, University Says
at 3:49 am NPR
Historians for Johns Hopkins University discovered that the founder of the Baltimore-based school owned slaves, contrary to the long-held belief that the wealthy philanthropist was a staunch abolitionist.
Researchers Martha S. Jones and Allison Seyler made the discovery after delving into previously undiscovered government census records as part of a university-led project on the school s history.
The findings complicate the understanding the Johns Hopkins community has toward its founder, wrote University President Ronald J. Daniels and other school officials in an open letter Wednesday. It calls to mind not only the darkest chapters in the history of our country and our city but also the complex history of our institutions since then, and the legacies of racism and inequity we are working together to confront, the officials wrote.