Rutgers University Recognizes Historical Ties to Racism and Slavery

A number of colleges across the nation are taking steps to confront their own historical ties to racism and slavery, and one of those is Rutgers — New Jersey's state university. Last week, the school published a book called Scarlet and Black, Volume 1: Slavery and Dispossession in Rutgers History. Among other things, the report details how some of the university's most prominent figures participated in the slave trade, and how Rutgers benefited from the displacement of Native Americans from their lands.

WNYC's David Furst spoke with Rutgers history professor Deborah Gray White, who chairs the Committee on Enslaved and Disenfranchised Populations in Rutgers History, which undertook the work of writing the book.