Ruth J. Simmons Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice

About Us

The Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice (CSSJ) is a scholarly research center with a public humanities mission.

Recognizing that racial and chattel slavery were central to the historical formation of the Americas and the modern world, the CSSJ creates a space for the interdisciplinary study of the historical forms of slavery while also examining how these legacies shape our contemporary world.

In 2003, President Ruth Simmons appointed a Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice (SCSJ) to explore Brown’s historical relationship to slavery and the transatlantic slave trade.