Greetings Everyone,

There’s some news coming out of Maryland that caught my attention.

The following information is from PHYS.org.

Researchers at John Hopkins University, who’ve played a prominent role in tracking the coronavirus, recently discovered that its founder owned slaves in the 19th century. They uncovered the information in government census records as part of an initiative to explore the university’s history. This led many to question the abolitionist narrative of Hopkins, whose father freed the family’s slaves in 1807.

President Ronald J. Daniels and other school officials advised the following:

“We now have government census records that state Mr. Hopkins was the owner of one enslaved person listed in his household in 1840 and four enslaved people listed in 1850.”

“By the 1860 census, there are no enslaved persons listed in the household.”

John Hopkins died in 1873 and left $7 million to open the university, orphanage, and hospital.

School officials have found no substantial evidence supporting the narrative of Hopkins being an abolitionist.

“They have been unable to document the story of Johns Hopkins’ parents freeing enslaved people in 1807, but they have found a partial freeing of enslaved people in 1778 by Johns Hopkins’ grandfather, and also continued slaveholding and transactions involving enslaved persons for decades thereafter.”

I wish I could say that I’m surprised, but I’m not.

To check out the full article, click here. If you have any additional information, feel free to comment below.

Until Next Time…

(Sources)

Photo Credit: CUMU