On Jan. 23, Harvard University informed all staff members of the now-disbanded Harvard University Slavery Remembrance Program (HSRP) that they had been fired. The program, which managed a $100 million endowment for the Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery initiative, was responsible for identifying descendants of individuals enslaved by the university’s founders.
According to the Harvard Crimson, the university has outsourced the job to a New England non-profit organization, American Ancestors, best known for its 10 Million Names project.
The group is currently one of the external research partners of the university, and will now lead the project to identify direct descendants of the founders of the Ivy League university.
The move, per their reporting, came suddenly at approximately 11 a.m. and was not accompanied by any advance warning or discussion of any potential layoffs, according to HSRP Director Richard J. Cellini and research fellow Wayne J. Tucker.
One week prior to their firing, Cellini and his team met with the prime minister and governor general of Antigua and Barbuda for the purposes of potentially establishing a research presence there.
The HSRP had discovered that there were several hundred people enslaved by individuals associated with Harvard founders between 1660 and 1885.
According to a previous investigation by the outlet, in September 2024, Cellini alleged that the university’s Vice Provost for Special Projects, Sara N. Bleich, who is over the Legacy of Slavery initiative, instructed him and the HSRP, “not to find too many descendants.”
Celini responded to this alleged ultimatum in the Crimson‘s investigation, telling the student-run newspaper, “I have told officials at the highest level of the University that they only have two options: fire me, or let the HSRP do this work properly.”
Cellini indicated in a text message to the newspaper that the former option appears to have been made by Bleich, writing, “Today Harvard fired me. So now we know.”
Per a press release from the university, announcing the expansion of American Ancestors involvement with Harvard, Henry Louis Gates Jr., a member of the Legacy of Slavery initiative advisory council and a member of the advisory board for 10 Million Names, touted the thoughtfulness and care of the next steps in Harvard’s process.
“Thanks to the extensive work they have already done on the genealogies of enslaved people, American Ancestors brings an exceptional ability to scale the enormous effort the university has ahead of it,” Gates, Jr. said.
He continued, “The University takes seriously the thoughtfulness and care that will go into engaging with living direct descendants, and that engagement will be based around rigorous and thorough research this partnership will advance in literally rebuilding family histories.”
According to Ryan J. Woods, the President and CEO of American Ancestors, “In this expanded role, American Ancestors is dedicated to upholding the highest standards of professional genealogical research to uncover the identities of individuals enslaved by Harvard leadership, faculty, or staff, and to document their descendants,” Woods said.
He continued, “We understand from our extensive experience that tracing families descended from enslaved individuals is a complex, time-intensive process filled with significant challenges. We are committed to advancing this critical research to help Harvard establish meaningful connections and engagement with living descendants.”
