Johns Hopkins, founder of Baltimore Research University and the hospital, which has long been considered a slavery and early abolitionist, owned slaves, the organization announced Wednesday.
Census records have recently come out during a research inventory of many slaves of slaves Pakins in the mid-1800s.
University President Ronald J. “There are now government census records that Mr. Hopkins owned one of the enslaved persons listed in his home in 1840 and four enslaved people enrolled in 1850,” Daniels said. Daniels; Paul B. Rothman, Dean of the Medical Faculty; And Kevin W., president of the Johns Hopkins Health System. Sovers wrote in a letter to the Johns Hopkins community. “Until the 1860 census, there were no enslaved persons listed in the household.”
He had long thought that Hopkins’ father had freed the family’s slaves in 1807. It is now less clear whether that was the case and whether Johns Hopkins was an abolitionist.
Johns Hopkins University was the first research university in the United States, and has been accredited and relied upon for a project to track and provide information related to the Covid-19 epidemic.
Hopkins founded the university after his death through a multi-million dollar lawyer.
The philanthropist left million 7 million in his desire to open a hospital, an orphanage and a university; At the time it was the largest philanthropic speech in the history of the nation.
These records were uncovered as part of a research project, and the project team learned about the possible existence of an 1850 census document depicting Huckpins as a slave holder in late spring.
Administrators called for more research to establish a clear picture of Hopkins’ life. There is no comprehensive biography here, and his personal papers are believed to have been destroyed or suddenly lost before his death.
Hopkins ‘earlier statement as an early abolitionist came largely from a book that also states that his father freed his slaves and was written by Hopkins’ granddaughter Helen Thom and published in 1929, school officials said – and They admitted to the university that Hopkins died in 1873 without a full investigation of the claims.
“Research by Martha S. Jones and Allison Seeler has found no evidence to disprove Johns Hopkins’ Thom’s description,” the message to the university community says.
“They have been unable to tell the story of Johns Hopkins ‘parents who freed the slaves in 17 180 ens, but they received a partial release from slavery in 1787878 by Johns Hopkins’ grandfather, and continued to deal with enslaved individuals for many decades thereafter.” Says Wednesday’s message.
The university’s history professor, Jones, wrote in an op-ed published in the Washington Post on Wednesday that Hopkins’ thum’s account was “a bunch of memories erasing his uncle’s role in memory.”
“This year, many of us at Johns Hopkins have taken pride in joining our colleagues in medicine and public health who have brilliantly tackled the coronavirus epidemic.” “That pride, for me now, merges with bitterness. Our university is the gift of a man who traded in the freedom and pride of other men and women.”
But, he writes, “it is difficult but necessary to replace a legend with a historical fact.”
University officials said they did not know the names, circumstances and relationships of the enslaved people in the open census records. He said he also did not understand why his household was listed in 1860 as having no slaves.
He wrote that details about the lives of enslaved people are one of the many questions raised by the research.
