Research Spotlight

Public History Initiative at Tufts

Slavery, Colonialism, and their Legacies at Tufts

History Department Associate Professor Kendra Field and Associate Professor Kerri Greenidge (Department of Studies in Race, Colonialism, and Diaspora) are co-directors of Tufts’ Slavery, Colonialism, and Their Legacies Project (SCL).

Since 2023, the Center for the Humanities, in partnership with the Center for the Study of Race and Democracy (CSRD), the Tufts Archival Research Center (TARC) and the Office of the Provost, have taken a leading role in this university-wide collaborative research initiative to examine the history of slavery, colonialism, and their legacies at and beyond Tufts University. The project will provide systematic, sustained support for interdisciplinary scholarship and public programming focused on Tufts’ historical ties to the African American and Afro-Native communities of West Medford and Somerville; American empire and colonial dispossession; anti-slavery, Universalism, and social movements; and the long presence of African descended and indigenous people and communities on Tufts’ campus. 
For more information, please visit the new SCL website.

African American Trail Project

The African American Trail Project, housed within the SCL Initiative, is a collaborative public history initiative housed at Tufts University. Originally inspired by the scholarship of Tufts Professor Gerald R. Gill (1948-2007) and driven by faculty and student research, this project maps African American and African-descended public history sites across greater Boston, and throughout Massachusetts. The African American Trail Project aims to develop African American historical memory and intergenerational community, placing present-day struggles for racial justice in the context of greater Boston’s historic African American, Black Native, and diasporic communities.

Under the leadership of Tufts’ Center for the Study of Race and Democracy, this project builds upon the work of many people and institutions, including: Tufts DataLab, Tufts Digital Collections & Archives, Tufts Consortium for Race, Colonialism & Diaspora, Tufts Africana Center, Tufts Africana Studies, Tufts Department of History, and the Gerald Gill Papers; Dean Bernard Harleston, Professor Gerald Gill, and Professor Vévé Clark; Professor Rosalind Shaw and the West Medford African American Remembrance Project; Mindy Nierenberg, Barbara Rubel, and Tisch College,” A Legacy to Remember”; Mr. Anthony Lowe; the Diversity Fund at Tufts University, the Office of the Provost, the Dean’s Office, Faculty of Arts and Sciences; the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life; and the Tufts University Alumni Association.

Key community partners include the Museum of African American History, Boston & Nantucket, Royall House & Slave Quarters, West Medford Community Center, Robbins House, and the Massachusetts Historical Society. The project currently documents over 200 sites across greater Boston and Massachusetts. For a copy of the paper map, or to be placed on our mailing list, please email CSRD.

Learn more about the African American Trail Project.