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Of Princeton's more than 160 endowed professorships and lectureships, four honor men who derived their fortunes from slave labor or contributed to the legacy of slavery in New Jersey and the United States.

More than half of the officers and founding members of the New Jersey Colonization Society were Princeton affiliates.

Peter Scudder rose from humble beginnings to become a successful businessman and a notable member of the free Black community in Princeton.

Princeton University, founded as the College of New Jersey in 1746, exemplifies the central paradox of American history. From the start, liberty and slavery were intertwined.

James Madison, Princeton alumnus and fourth President of the United States, held contradictory views on slavery throughout his life—arguing that slavery was incompatible with Revolutionary principles even as he owned over one hundred slaves on his Virginia plantation, brought enslaved people to the White House, and ultimately sold them for personal profit.