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Stories

William Taylor: Princeton’s Last Independent African American Campus Vendor
by April C. Armstrong | Reconstruction to Present (1865-)
William Taylor, a black entrepreneur in Princeton in the first half of the 20th century, was the third and last in a line of independent African American vendors who sold refreshments to students. The nickname students used for Taylor (a racial slur) reflected the casual racism in Princeton was still very much present during the postbellum era, as in the days of the first campus vendor, former fugitive slave James Collins Johnson.

What Princeton Owes to Firestone’s Exploitation of Liberia
by Jonathan Ort | Reconstruction to Present (1865-)
Forced labor in Liberia built the Firestone fortune—and transformed Princeton. The story of Firestone, Liberia, and Princeton reveals how racist exploitation entangled and enriched Nassau Hall in the century that followed the U.S. Civil War.

The Princeton Plan
by Meagan Raker | Reconstruction to Present (1865-)
In 1948, after a century of segregation, the town of Princeton integrated the white Nassau Street School and the Black Witherspoon Street School with a system called the “Princeton Plan.” Contemporary reactions to desegregation revealed Princeton’s racial divisions as well as the Black community’s commitment to education.

The Princeton Immigration Restriction League (1922-1924)
by Nicky Steidel | Reconstruction to Present (1865-)
In 1922, Princeton affiliates founded a chapter of the Immigration Restriction League (IRL) on campus, advocating for restrictions on non-western European immigration into the United States. Though the organization dissolved in 1924, the IRL leaders’ commitment to white supremacy extended into their professional lives as influential 20th-century scholars.

Princeton and the Ku Klux Klan
by Gabrielle M. Girard | Reconstruction to Present (1865-)
During the early 1920s, Princeton students came into contact with local members of the Ku Klux Klan. Their interactions with the Klan reveal both curiosity about the organization and anxiety about the following it could develop on university campuses.
Primary Sources

"'Klansmen' Reprimanded"
October 4, 1955 | Reconstruction to Present (1865-)
Daily Princetonian article reporting on an undergraduate "prank" where students dressed in KKK robes threatened classmates petitioning the acquittal of Emmett Till's murderers in 1955.

"Hooded and Armed Menacing of Petitioners Exposed as Soph Prank"
October 3, 1955 | Reconstruction to Present (1865-)
Daily Princetonian article reporting on an undergraduate "prank" where students dressed in KKK robes threatened classmates petitioning the acquittal of Emmett Till's murderers in 1955.

"Petitioners Oppose Decision in Till Case"
September 28, 1955 | Reconstruction to Present (1865-)
Text of Princeton student petition opposing the acquittal of Emmett Till's murderers in 1955.

"What Is Behind the Hood?"
October 31, 1923 | Reconstruction to Present (1865-)
Daily Princetonian editorial condemning the lawlessness of the Ku Klux Klan.

"Our university dollars at work"
March 14, 1977 | Reconstruction to Present (1865-)
A cartoon that ran in the March 14, 1977 issue of The Daily Princetonian, accompanying an article titled "Our university dollars at work." The artist included the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company (depicted at the top center) among Princeton’s investments in southern Africa.
News

Princeton University Launches Princeton & Slavery Website
The Daily Princetonian, 11/6/17
The Princeton & Slavery Project explores how early University trustees, faculty, and students were connected to the institution of slavery.

Association of Black Seminarians Demands Reparations
The Daily Princetonian, 4/3/19
A group of students at the Princeton Theological Seminary is demanding that the institution pay reparations in response to a report it published last year, which details its historical connections to slavery.

Reparations Now
The Daily Princetonian, 11/5/20
Princeton owned up to its past with the Princeton and Slavery project. While acknowledging this past, the University should make an effort to help those directly affected by it.

“We Are Our History”: Confronting the Past and Imagining the Future of Whig-Clio
The Daily Princetonian, 2/25/21
The American Whig-Cliosophic Society, colloquially known as Whig-Clio, is the oldest collegiate literary and debate society in the nation. Usually we say this with pride, as an impressive feature that sets us apart. But, like Princeton itself, Whig-Clio’s extensive history means it is wrapped up in the darker sides of American history, too.

Titus Kaphar Talks Art, University Connections to Slavery
The Daily Princetonian, 11/17/17
Titus Kaphar, an African-American painter and sculptor whose works are featured in the Museum of Modern Art, discussed the intersection between racism and Princeton University’s history in a lecture on campus.