The history of Cambridge University's
entanglement in imperialism and slavery is extremely complex,
but there can be no doubt that the collegiate university did gain
economically from the exploitation of enslaved labour, as did the country
as a whole.
And unfortunately,
some of the economic and social legacy of that remains to the present day.
It seems to me that any university should want to know about its own history.
We’re a great research-intensive university
and I think we're committed to the idea that knowing is better than not knowing.
Early in 2019, the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Stephen Toope,
commissioned a report into the University's links to the slave trade,
with the intention that its findings will help to shape the future
of the University.
Well, I think it's extremely important that the University,
like every institution in Britain that has had a long history,
looks at this period of British history
and its own involvement with slavery,
with other forms of forced labour, and with colonialism and empire.
For too long, people of colour have not participated
in creating the narrative of the University's past.
And so this is a moment when we can address that and put that right
and get beyond the bias that has arisen in the understanding of our university.
Universities are just a microcosm of society.
What happens in the wider world
bleeds into them.
But equally, what happens in universities bleeds out into the wider world.
And I think having an institution like Cambridge
beginning to make those changes - and I think that's really key in this.
This is just the beginning -
allows for other institutions and also just people
in general to take a look at themselves and look at where they can be better.
What this inquiry and this report is aiming to do is multifaceted.
I think, above all, have a great conversation,
perhaps one of the greatest conversations this university has ever had.
This is a piece of evidence-based research
about the history of the University of Cambridge.
It includes the story of how families connected to the slave trade
sent their kids to the University of Cambridge for an education
in order to increase their social prestige.
It includes the story of how so many Colleges financed their operations
through investments in corporations connected to colonialism and slavery.
It includes the story of how intellectuals based at this university
defended slavery whilst others opposed it.
And they defended it on the basis that slavery was good for civilisation
and was good for rescuing Africans out of the state that they were in.
They prescribed to rigidly racist ideas in doing so.
So what's a bit unnerving for a historian or for any of us
is actually to look
and see just how normalised and accepted slavery was among white people in Britain
during that period.
It's important to understand that this gives us a better perspective
on our relationship with slavery and moves us away from an idea
that because we were important in abolition,
that our entanglement was entirely positive.
It's important for the University because it allows us
not only to reflect on the past, but to begin to think
about what the past means for our future.
How do we connect better with Black British communities?
What are the relationships that we want to foster with partners
in parts of the world where the legacies of slavery
have really resulted in profound inequality?
This is a powerful opportunity for change at Cambridge University
and wider society.
I think what we we have to acknowledge is that it's difficult,
it's uncomfortable, but there are a lot of good people that care
and they care enough for this
to land exactly where it should do.
It's academic rigour.
It's a good heart.
It's visionary in as much as without knowing and understanding
those uncomfortable truths, you cannot really enter the 21st century
in a way where you want to be a global leader.
Cambridge is in the vanguard with a number of other institutions, notably
North American universities, Glasgow and institutions like the Bank of England,
The Church of England and the National Trust in this country.
This story of the links with enslavement
runs across our whole university, and so it is a case that we all need
to participate in the change that's necessary, and that comes from this
new understanding.
There are a number of different things
that the University will be doing in response to this inquiry.
There is an overarching theme that runs through all of them,
which is to make the University reflect the modern day society in which it exists.
The standing of Cambridge in the world relies now more than ever before
on the inclusion of people of Black heritage at every level.
Because the more diverse our university is, the better
and the more rigorous our research is.
I think that very essence that comes with being a Black person in Britain,
we bring to the University in so many different ways.
We bring our stories into our work in ways that the academy hasn't necessarily
given grace for before.
We have to give hope to all our students at this university,
Black and White, that they belong, that their histories will not be ignored,
that in the future we will operate in a way
that, one, makes them extremely proud.
Prouder than they do.
But above all, that they belong.
For a black teenager who is scrolling through social media,
thinking about their future and comes across this inquiry, it's
a signal that the University is taking some form of accountability
and is willing to confront histories, whereas when I was applying,
I didn't see anything like that from the institution itself.
My personal history is bound up in this in this report.
And so, of course, that I bristle.
I get angry.
And then I have to come back and say, okay, well, actually,
this is a great conversation.
This is an honest conversation.
But more broader than that,
I passionately feel
that this is a conversation of its time.
And the more people lean into it
and feel that our history,
our glory of the United Kingdom is not undermined
by this, it's strengthened by it.
And this is not I win you lose,
it's I win, we all win
because we have a better understanding
of where we came from and a united vision on where we go.