Scarlet and Black, Volume Three: Making Black Lives Matter at Rutgers, 1945-2020

Rutgers University is celebrating its 250th anniversary, and Scarlet and Black, Volume Three, concludes the groundbreaking documentation of the university's connection to slavery. The volume includes essays about Black and Puerto Rican students' experiences, the development of the Black Unity League, the Conklin Hall takeover, the divestment movement against South African apartheid, anti-racism struggles during the 1990s, and the Don Imus controversy.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 328 pages
Publication date: 20 May 2021
Publisher: Rutgers University Press

The 250th anniversary of Rutgers University's founding presents an opportune moment for the Rutgers community to confront its past and acknowledge its involvement in the dehumanization and exploitation of African Americans, the marginalization and erasure of Native American people and culture, and the disfranchisement and eradication of these communities. Scarlet and Black, Volume Three, serves as a groundbreaking testament to the history of Rutgers's entanglement with slavery, which was neither incidental nor accidental but rather a fundamental aspect of its existence. Similar to many early American colleges, Rutgers relied on the labor of slaves to construct its campuses, provide services to students and faculty, and sustain its financial operations. The institution's survival and growth were intrinsically linked to the sale of black individuals, perpetuating a system of exploitation and inequality. This concluding volume of a three-part series, produced by the Committee on Enslaved and Disenfranchised Population in Rutgers History, brings to a close the committee's extensive research and documentation of Rutgers's connection to slavery. Within its pages, readers will find insightful essays exploring the experiences of Black and Puerto Rican students, the formation of the Black Unity League, the Conklin Hall takeover, the anti-apartheid divestment movement, the struggles against racism during the 1990s, and the controversial Don Imus incident and the 2007 Scarlet Knights women's basketball team. To delve deeper into the work of the Committee on Enslaved and Disenfranchised Population in Rutgers History, please visit the project's website at http://scarletandblack.rutgers.edu.

Weight: 576g
Dimension: 153 x 229 x 27 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781978827318