Ebony and Ivy: Slaverys Grip in Americas Universities

Lily Eisen and Sarah Jacob Group Website

Process Paper

rom the be!innin! "e searched #or a uni$ue topic% somethin! that "ould captivate not only us but our audience as "ell& A#ter narro"in! do"n our possibilities "e decided upon our topic #or various reasons& irstly% our topic is some"hat o# a ne"% unheard o# part o# history that "as "ritten out until recently& 'his intri!ued us because o# its unmentioned past% yet it "as $uite si!ni#icant to !o unmentioned& When analy(in! the intimate relationship bet"een colle!es and the institution o# slavery% "e reali(ed ho" truly ama(in!% yet horri#yin! our topic "as& Secondly% althou!h "e "orried about #indin! sources #or our topic% a recently published boo) by a *I' pro#essor provided us "ith invaluable sources that helped !uide our pro+ect& Upon choosin! our topic% "e be!an research at the ,leveland Public Library do"nto"n "ith !uidance #rom Ebony and Ivy% ,rai! Steven Wilder-s boo)& 'he library contained outstandin! resources such as micro#ilm #rom the late ei!hteenth century that helped bac) up our thesis& In addition to +ust readin! and e.plorin! the histories o# various colle!es% "e also connected "ith a #e" colle!e students at William and *ary and /artmouth and they helped provide primary sources #rom their colle!e archives& Althou!h "e "ere not able to spea) "ith the author o# Ebony and Ivy% "e #ound several intervie"s that voiced and added to the research "e had done and "e "ere able to utili(e each intervie" to our li)in! #or our "ebsite& We chose a "ebsite because "e thou!ht it "ould be the best #ormat to convey our messa!e to our audience "ith the use o# stron! visuals and intervie"s& We "ere able to !ather many primary sources as "ell as pictures that "ould create a stron! visual impact as "ell as in#orm our audience& Similarly% "ith our intervie"s and other audio "e dispersed them e##ectively "ithin our "ebsites pa!es& urthermore% our layout is a chronolo!ical pattern to create a historical #lo" throu!hout our "ebsite and ma)e our topic a little more understandable to those readin! it&

'he relationship to this years theme "as hard to #ind at #irst& 0o"ever once "e too) a moral standpoint opposed to an ob+ective one% the relationship revealed itsel#& 1ur research led to the $uestion o# "hether many colle!es had any ri!ht to accept this 2blood money2 #rom various donors% "hile at the same time% they "ere strippin! slaves o# any and all ri!hts that they had and puttin! them to "or) on campus& Similarly "e #ound that the colle!es had a moral responsibility to stic) to their ideolo!y o# abolition and their vie"point o# slavery bein! a moral in+ustice& *ore recently% colle!es% such as 3ro"n and 0arvard University% have started to ta)e responsibility #or their "ron! doin!s and have ta)en action in ma)in! this part o# their history clear to the public&

Word count: 455