Harvard GSD Spring 2023

Harvard and the Legacy of Slavery

Option Studio with Bryan Lee and Julian Bonder

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The Center for Protest and Justice at Harvard University addresses Harvard’s Legacy of Slavery at the most well known location on campus, Harvard Yard. Along with its iconography Harvard Yard is and was a place of protest. The Center changes the current image of Harvard to reveal its legacy of slavery. The project veils University Hall hiding the John Harvard Statue and changing how one sees and experiences the building.

In addition to University Hall being an office for Harvard Administrators the Hall will become more accessible to students, faculty, and visitors as a place of learning and action. The project ramps down, emphasizing the entrance and removing the stairs that made entry to the building seem closed to visitors. Visitors will now enter the first floor which becomes an exhibition space. It creates a space for one to learn about Harvard’s ties of slavery and the history of struggle and resistance by students and faculty.
 

The existing Faculty Room, home to mostly white portraits of Harvard faculty except one, will be taken apart with its walls peeling away. The missing portraits of past students and faculty of color will be hung on the new walls, recognizing their contributions to the school. The faculty room will become a classroom, accessible to visitors as a meeting and learning space. It will be a space for the school to move forward with the recommendations from the Legacy of Slavery Report.

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