Tory Row

Instead of a straight-forward representation of the presence of slavery and racial discrimination throughout the history of Harvard Square, my exhibition aims to establish itself as a warning more than anything else. It aims to warn viewers of the dangers inherent in the practice of tolerating intolerance, which was a practice all too common in the early history of the college. Rather than focus on the well-known or frequently discussed slave-owning presidents of Harvard, my exhibition begins with a portrait of Harvard President Josiah Quincy (Harvard Art Museums), who was well documented as having been anti-slavery even during his position as president of the college. Then, I would including an engraving of Charles Follen, the first professor of German at Harvard (Harvard University Archives). Next, a portrait of famed comparative zoologist and natural scientist Louis Agassiz, whom also served as professor at Harvard prior to the abolition of slavery (Harvard University Archives). The final object of my miniature exhibition is the ornate daguerrotype case adorned with photographer J.T Zealy’s insignia, commissioned by Louis Agassiz (Harvard Peabody Museum). 

"Josiah Quincy (1772-1864) (William Page)(Josiah Quincy) , H50,” Harvard Art Museums. 

The assortment of information that would be presented in my exhibit would aim to demonstrate how tolerating intolerance has severely discredited the intellectual authenticity of the university for centuries, and how it has only helped foster a social and academic environment willing to ignore the sinister past of its community. Josiah Quincy, whose anti-slavery leanings are known and frequently referenced by the college, was also responsible for terminating Professor Charles Follen’s teaching position at Harvard, following Follen’s outspoken support of abolition and his participation in the establishment of the Cambridge Anti-Slavery Society. This is an example that would be outlined by the juxtaposition of both of their likenesses, and further emphasized by the fact that despite openly defending abolition and speaking out against racial injustice at the time, Follen is no where near as glorified through art and architecture as Josiah Quincy, whose “anti-slavery” leanings were not deep or genuine enough to allow for Follen to at least voice his abolitionary perspective on campus. 

Engraving of Charles Follen by R. W. Smith, from painting by Gambardella, 1841. Harvard University Archives. 

This discussion would then lead into the portrait of Louis Agassiz and the daguerrotype case, where the wall text of the exhibition would describe how Agassiz’s intellectual and academic pursuits reflected his own racist and white supremacist leanings, despite records indicating that he was not in support of slavery. Agassiz’s credibility as a scientist and as a public figure at Harvard was not questioned despite his harmful and blatantly incorrect assumptions about what he referred to as the “African type”— and the daguerrotype case serves as the ultimate example of why it is that a university needs to be so absolutely involved and accountable for the actions of its scientists, researchers, and writers. Inside of this daguerreotype case is a devastatingly graphic image of an enslaved individual that lived at Harvard, referred to only as “Renty”, and whose naked photograph (alongside a couple of other enslaved persons’) was commissioned by Louis Agassiz in an attempt for him to argue about the inherent “difference” between “Africans” and “white men”. These daguerrotypes are held at Harvard’s Peabody Museum, and they were discovered in 1976 in a dusty and seemingly forgotten cabinet inside of the museum; no one knew that these images were even there, and I believe that this is a perfect representation of the reality of Harvard’s history and its connection to slavery. So many tortured souls, experiences of abuse, injustice, violation— this is all history that also feels as if it is sitting in a forgotten cabinet somewhere within the depths of the college, and without an absolute acknowledgment of what the university’s tolerance of intolerance & blatantly hurtful rhetoric caused so many different souls to suffer through, we won’t be able to successfully hold Harvard accountable.

Photo of Louis Agassiz. Harvard University Archives.

The insignia of J.T. Zealy imprinted in the case holding the daguerrotype of Renty, commissioned by Louis Agassiz. Harvard Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology.