Brown & Slavery & Justice

2021 Second Edition of Report

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2021 Second Edition of Report

Published 15 years later, an expanded second edition of the Slavery and Justice Report features essays that offer new insights on the persistent and evolving impact of Brown’s original 2006 report.

Fifteen years after the original Slavery and Justice Report’s release in 2006, the nation and the world has changed indelibly. The COVID-19 pandemic had disproportionately affected communities of color. The killing of Black Americans at the hands of police spurred a long-overdue reckoning with the anti-Black racism that racial slavery had fomented in the United States. Black people continue to be harmed by persistent disparities in access to employment, health care, housing, education, wages and food security. 

It was through the lens of these and other complex issues that Brown chose to revisit its landmark Slavery and Justice Report. 

Rather than replacing the original report, the second edition expands upon it with new perspectives from faculty, staff and alumni. A foreword from President Christina H. Paxson and essays by Simmons Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice Director Anthony Bogues, President Emerita Ruth J. Simmons and a variety of Brown alumni reflect on the enduring legacy of the report, its impact on public conversation and scholarship, and its role in catalyzing new diversity, equity and inclusion goals at the University. 

2021 Digital Second Edition

The revised and expanded digital second edition features perspectives that offer insights on the persistent and evolving impact of Brown’s original 2006 report. The digital publication provides an immersive, interactive experience for readers, offering a deeper engagement with the historical sources (with full transcriptions).
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2021 Print Second Edition

The print version of the revised and expanded second edition was produced to make the book as accessible as possible across a range of formats. It features the new commentary and the original 2006 report without the interactivity of the digital edition.
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I believe that institutions of higher education have a responsibility to continuously re-evaluate their progress toward full equity. …We know that the commitment to equity is a perpetual march — one that will perhaps never be complete.

Christina H. Paxson President, Brown University

2006 Report of the Steering Committee

Brown’s watershed 2006 Report of the Brown University Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice detailed the University’s historical ties to the slave trade, spurring major change on campus and prompting similar reckonings across the United States.

Digital First Readings

With a digital teaching edition of the Slavery and Justice Report and a series of discussion seminars, incoming first-year undergraduates are able to grapple with Brown’s historical ties to the slave trade.