UMD introduces official enslavement acknowledgement

UMD now has an official enslavement acknowledgement, created by a thoughtful committee of dedicated faculty and staff with input from The 1856 Project. Dr. Georgina Dodge, UMD's vice president for diversity and inclusion (and our fearless leader), first shared the statement in summer 2024 in honor of Juneteenth.

The acknowledgement serves as one way to recognize, honor and commit to atoning for the exploited labor of forcefully enslaved people of African descent that built our university. It is available in ODI's resource library and at go.umd.edu/enslavement-acknowledgement. You are welcome to use this language at events or other spaces. You may also be interested in the official UMD land acknowledgement.

We, at the University of Maryland, recognize and honor the exploited labor of forcefully enslaved people upon which the foundations of the United States and our institution were built.

Enslaved people of African descent farmed, paved, maintained, and developed the land on which our university stands today. Through intergenerational resistance, leadership and a steadfast pursuit of freedom and justice, their descendants fought and continue to fight for a societal transformation in defiance of the profound injustices of the transatlantic trade, chattel slavery, convict leasing, Jim Crow laws, dehumanization and the caste system that permeates our existence. They desegregated and integrated our classrooms and now lead our university and Maryland Terps forward to achieving a better world.

We are forever indebted to the unwilling generational sacrifices and stolen labor of the enslaved Africans and their descendants. Together, we will strive to atone, heal and uplift the unbreakable spirit and beauty of Black Americans.