In 2003, Brown University embarked on a deep investigation into its historical relationship to racial slavery and the transatlantic slave trade. Brown released its groundbreaking Report of the Brown University Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice in 2006, confronting and publicly documenting the University’s complex history with the transatlantic slave trade and its legacies of anti-Black racism, racial domination and injustice. 

Brown was among the first institutions of higher education in the United States to publicly catalogue its ties to racial slavery. The Slavery and Justice Report and the University’s ongoing research and scholarship continue to serve as a national model for responsible scholarship. 

The report established the importance within the Brown community of continued inward examination and ongoing accountability for the profound consequences of racial slavery, including systemic racism and economic inequality. These values have formed the basis for the concrete actions the University continues to take to create a more diverse and inclusive academic community and to ensure that members of historically underrepresented groups can thrive and fulfill their full potential as scholars and as leaders at Brown.