New exhibit: Campus Namesakes

A group of undergraduate students in Jesse Bayker’s Digital History course collaborated to create Campus Namesakes, a new digital exhibit for the Scarlet and Black Project. This exhibit features the founders and benefactors of Rutgers University whose names are emblazoned on campus buildings—such as Frelinghuysen, Rutgers, Hardenbergh, Livingston, and Neilson—and explores their relationship to slavery. The exhibit also highlights the recently dedicated landmarks of Sojourner Truth Apartments and Will’s Way.

Jacob R. Hardenbergh Jr. slave sale ad
Jacob R. Hardenbergh Jr. advertised the sale of a black woman in 1800

As students of Rutgers, we feel that people deserve to know the true history of the names they see every day on campus.

— Student contributors Jenny Schneider, Courtney Stevenson, Rachel Diroll-Zack, Dante Intindola, Khaled Reza, Sid Mehta, and Manan Shah