In November 2021, Randolph-Macon College joined the Universities Studying Slavery (USS) consortium as part of the College’s ongoing effort to acknowledge its historical connections to the institution of slavery.    

USS, created and led by the University of Virginia, helps institutions of higher learning across the United States and abroad share best practices and guiding principles about research and reconciliation projects, and outreach and education programs that address shared histories that are inextricably linked to the slave trade and the exploitation of enslaved people. Member colleges commit to “research, acknowledgement, and atonement regarding institutional ties to the slave trade, to enslavement on campus or abroad, and to enduring racism in school history and practice.”

In October 2020, President Robert Lindgren formed the Racial Equity and Opportunity Commission (REOC) for Randolph-Macon College. The Commission’s year-long inquiry into the history of the College, its campus climate, and its student, faculty, and staff recruitment, hiring, and retention practices concluded with a set of recommendations and a report detailing its findings. In particular, the report of the History Committee detailed the institution’s dependence on and benefit from the labor of enslaved people in the antebellum era.

Professor of Art History Evie Terrono, who served on the History Committee of the Commission, will be liaison to the USS. “The diversity of initiatives and projects undertaken at other institutions participating in the consortium alert us to potential faculty and student research, and learning and outreach programs that we may explore as we engage in conversation on the legacies of our institutional history,” Professor Terrono noted. “I look forward to this most important, urgent, and relevant work.”

In connection to this initiative and to commemorate Black History Month, Dr. Lynn Rainville, Director of Institutional History and Museums at Washington and Lee University, will discuss her extensive work on uncovering the lives and labors of enslaved people at institutions of higher learning in Virginia in a presentation entitled “No Stone Unturned: The Lives of the Enslaved at Virginia Universities.” The presentation will take place on February 23 at 6:30 p.m. at the Dalton Family Room, on the second floor of Birdsong Hall.