101Results for "student-life"
Stories
The Minstrel Tradition at Princeton University
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Princeton students performed in blackface in the 19th and 20th centuries, until as late as 1949. The legacy of Princeton’s minstrel traditions continues to live on in American culture through the popular folk song “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad.”
The Skeleton in the Basement
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In 1853, two Princeton alumni described an event in which anatomy students stole a body from the local Black cemetery. Though potentially fictional, their story illustrates how elite white men claimed authority over Black bodies beyond the institution of slavery.
The Civil War Comes to Princeton in 1861
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Tensions between Unionist and Secessionist students reached their peak in 1861, shortly after the outbreak of the Civil War.
“Let the Southerns Come Here”: Letters of a Slaveholding Father and Son
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The extensive correspondence between antebellum Princeton student Henry Kirke White Muse and his slave-owning father illustrates the College of New Jersey’s appeal to southern students as well as its conservatism on the issue of slavery.
Slavery in the Curriculum
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John Witherspoon and Samuel Stanhope Smith’s curriculum emphasized Scottish moral philosophy, providing early Princeton students with a new philosophical framework for opposing slavery even as pro-slavery apologists used the same philosophical concepts to defend the practice of owning slaves.
Primary Sources
Score of "Levee Song"
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Score of "Levee Song," published in Carmina Princetonia: The University Song Book in 1894.
"Miscellaneous Organizations"
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Illustration depicting posters for "Miscellaneous Organizations" at Princeton, including minstrel shows, published in the Bric-a-Brac in 1890.
"Effigies Burnt and Hung"
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A news item about the burning of John Brown in effigy at the College of New Jersey, printed in the Edgefield Advertiser.
"An Effigy of John Brown"
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A news item about the burning of John Brown in effigy at the College of New Jersey printed in the Yorkville Enquirer.
Response to Effigy Burning
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A response to the burning of effigies at the College of New Jersey, printed in the Columbian Register of New Haven.