University of Virginia Library

COMMENDING THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY'S RESOLUTION ON SLAVERY

WHEREAS, the General Assembly of Virginia in its 2007 Session adopted resolutions acknowledging "with profound regret the involuntary servitude of Africans....and calling for reconciliation among all Virginians;" and

WHEREAS, the Governor has signed the resolutions; and

WHEREAS, the Board of Visitors commends the Governor and the General Assembly for these actions and expresses its regret for the institution of slavery in this state; and

WHEREAS, the notion of involuntary servitude is repugnant and incompatible with the ideals upon which this University was founded, the ideals upon which the Commonwealth was organized in 1776, and the ideals embodied in our national Declaration of Independence in the same year; and

WHEREAS, the mostly anonymous laborers employed in the construction of the University were both enslaved and free, as was the University's workforce between 1825 and 1865; and

WHEREAS, the Board expresses its particular regret for the employment of enslaved persons in these years; and

WHEREAS, the Board expresses as well its profound respect for the contributions of these women and men, by whose ingenuity and labor much of what is now admired at the University as a national and world treasure came to be;

RESOLVED, the Board of Visitors recommits itself to the principles of equal opportunity and to the principle that human freedom and learning are and must be inextricably linked in this Commonwealth and in this Republic; and

RESOLVED FURTHER, the Board affirms that the benefits of useful knowledge must belong commonly to all who present themselves qualified for admission to the University, and that this useful knowledge ought to be the common treasure of all who come here.

(Several Members commented that the resolution is "long overdue.")