In February 2018, Professor William Lahey, President of the University of King’s College, announced the establishment of a scholarly inquiry to examine the possible connections, direct and indirect, of the university with slavery in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The comprehensive project comprises original, independent research by leading Canadian and U.S. scholars.
To help understand, assess and contribute to the body of academic knowledge on this issue, the University of King’s College has commissioned original research by historians and slavery scholars, assisted by undergraduate and graduate students.
An expert review panel, chaired by King’s professor of Humanities and Holocaust scholar, Dr. Dorota Glowacka, will evaluate and offer feedback on the research papers, prior to publication.
The University of King’s College is hosting, along with Dalhousie University and in partnership with the Black Cultural Centre for Nova Scotia the Universities Studying Slavery Conference in the fall of 2023 in Halifax. It is a major international conference on slavery’s role in higher education and its legacies, including the movement for reparations and redress. It is, for the first time, being held outside the United States.
Based out of the University of Virginia, this consortium of more than 100 institutions of higher learning is dedicated to organizing multi-institutional collaboration on research dealing with historical and contemporary issues dealing with race and inequality in higher education and in university communities.
King’s is one of four Canadian post-secondary institutions to join USS, the others being Dalhousie University, McGill University and the University of New Brunswick.