Reckoning With Harvard’s Ties to Slavery Requires Prison Divestment and Prison Education
The Crimson | Sara M. Feldman
In this piece, Feldman, preceptor in Yiddish in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, is “troubled by something that is missing” from the Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery Report—”Harvard affiliates and alumni continue to incarcerate other human beings through their work in government and the legal profession,” she explains, going on to call prisons “legalized slavery.”
Feldman argues that “Incarcerated people are compelled to perform what can best be described as slave labor and the bodies of the criminalized are commodified in business calculations and deals…Without prison divestment, is it not fair to say that slavery continues to fund Harvard University — and that Harvard funds slavery?”
Feldman then advocates for bringing Harvard education into prisons. “It is time to establish a for-credit Harvard-in-prison program which would offer a superior education to the talented students incarcerated in the region.” She explains that “At present, only a tiny percentage of free people enjoy access to a Harvard education,” asking, “Is anyone ever admitted to Harvard College from prison? …Why not offer the liberatory power of a Harvard education as one of our efforts?”
