WashU’s founder was not an abolitionist: Who was William Greenleaf Eliot?

Team of student researchers examines WashU's founding chancellor's relationship to slavery and freedom, showing that he has been mischaracterized as an abolitionist, as indicated by his presidency of the Colonization Society, his ownership of slaves and participation in the slave trade, and his partnership with prominent slavers in St. Louis and elsewhere in building the University. "Untangling why Washington University has insisted on revising historical memory so that Eliot is misbranded as an abolitionist is imperative," they write, "if we are to understand the University’s role — our role — in shaping St. Louis’s racial past, present and future."