Seeking the untold stories

In January 2020, Principal Bill Rawson ’71; P’08 announced the formation of a steering committee tasked with examining connections between Exeter and the institution of slavery. Though the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic led to some delays, the Committee to Study Slavery and its Legacy at Exeter kicked off its efforts in the fall term of the 2023–24 school year.

Co-led by Director of Equity and Inclusion Stephanie Bramlett and Magee Lawhorn, head of Archives and Special Collections, the committee includes students, faculty, staff and alumni dedicated to reporting on and raising awareness of the Academy’s history and connection with enslaved persons, as well as researching and sharing the stories of early Black Exonians.

Exeter is only one of many educational institutions undertaking similar efforts in recent years. Universities including Brown, Harvard and Georgetown have all launched major initiatives to investigate and confront the various ways in which slavery shaped their histories, and considering how to recognize and reckon with its legacy. This week, Bramlett, Lawhorn and other staff and faculty members on the committee shared some of the results of their ongoing work in a community-wide assembly held during the Core Values Project block.

Urging students gathered in the Assembly Hall to “seek the stories” connected with Exeter’s past, Bramlett spoke of four individuals who were at one point enslaved by John Phillips, who founded the Academy in 1781 with his second wife, Elizabeth. Phillips inherited three individuals, a man named Robin and two women, Phillis and Dinah, as part of the estate of his first wife, Sarah, who died in 1765. Bramlett shared what information is known about Robin, Phillis and Dinah, as well as another man, Corydon, who was still living at the time of Phillips’s death.

“When John Phillips died in 1795, he was not an enslaver,” Bramlett said. “But he did enslave four people during his lifetime, and I want you to remember their names.”

Other highlights from the committee’s presentation:

• History Instructor Kent McConnell offered some historical context about slavery in New England in the late 18th century, around the time of Exeter’s founding.
• Sarah Pruitt ’95, a writer in Exeter’s Office of Communications, shared the story of Moses Uriah Hall, class of 1861, who is believed to be the first Black student to attend Exeter.
• Panos Voulgaris, instructor in physical education and head coach of varsity football, spoke about his research into the lives of three early Black Exonian athletes: John Tazewell Jones, class of 1899, Ernest J. Marshall, class of 1904 and Benjamin Seldon, class of 1907.
• Assistant Director of Equity and Inclusion Kevin Pajaro-Mariñez spoke about the committee’s charge to report known information about Exeter’s history and connection with enslaved people, as well as recommend programs, events, and other recognitions to understand that history. He also placed the work in the context of similar institutional efforts, including the Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire and universities including Harvard, Princeton and the University of Virginia.
• Lawhorn gave an inside look at the work being done in the Center for Archives and Special Collections to preserve student stories and build Exeter’s institutional memory.

Laura Wood, director of the Class of 1945 Library, concluded the assembly by urging the audience to remember the names of those whose stories were shared and to challenge themselves to learn more about those yet untold. “Have conversations and engage with one another,” Wood said. “It’s a full community project, and we hope that it becomes a full community conversation.”

At the conclusion of the assembly, community members headed to Elm Street Dining Hall to enjoy some cake and “ale” (cider) in tribute to Dinah, whose story Bramlett shared in her presentation. One of the women formerly enslaved by John Phillips, Dinah later owned property and operated her own business near today’s Court Street in Exeter, selling similar snacks to the boys attending the Academy.