By Genesis Lemus\/\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Recent discoveries have shown that Hood’s very own, Margaret Scholl Hood, was part of the slave-owning white class.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As we honor and celebrate Black History Month, it is important to recognize that Hood College does have a past with slavery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Emilie\u00a0Amt, a history professor at Hood, recently wrote a piece on her blog about Hood\u2019s family owning slaves from when Margaret was a young child until adulthood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI started researching for this several years ago around 2016,\u201d Amt said. \u201cIt was not my discovery, it was something that some people knew.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A copy of Hood\u2019s diary was released in 1992, which showed that she talked about her family\u2019s slaves. She would mention a John Jackson, which is said to be enslaved, also a Joe and a Jane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The editors of the diary put the information in their footnotes. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t highlighted,\u201d Amt said. \u201cI think they even played it down a little bit.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a historian of African American history and slavery, Amt said it was important for her to get that information out there and also inform Hood about the discoveries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen I shared it with President Andrea Chapdelaine back in 2017, some of that information was put on the historical pages of the website,\u201d Amt said. \u201cThe college acknowledged it, they worked to be more open to that history.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Amt was sad but not surprised to find this information about the school\u2019s past, but she wanted to make sure that it was a part of the school\u2019s history that would not get overlooked. \u201cFor any American institution that\u2019s bound to American history we have to acknowledge the bad along with claiming the good,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The reason why Amt didn\u2019t publish her research earlier was because she wanted to nail down all of the facts. \u201cBut it is time to finish that research,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Amt also said that it was important to recognize that Margaret wasn\u2019t the owner of the slaves. \u201cIt was her father that was the legal owner, and she was a young woman growing up in the household as part of a slave-owning family,\u201d Amt said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t make it any better, but you must acknowledge the facts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt reminds us as an institution that we benefited from slavery, her growing up in privilege was due in part from her father owning people,” Amt said. \u201cThings we value today were made possible by the labor stolen from, and the suffering inflicted on, enslaved African Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"