The role of slavery at American colleges and universities has been a focus of historical investigation and controversy. Enslaved Africans labored to build institutions of higher learning in the United States, and the slave economy was involved in funding many universities. People, held captive in a lifetime of forced labor and seen as less than human, were used to build academic buildings and residential halls. Though slavery has long been presented as a uniquely Southern institution, colleges and universities in Northern states benefited from the labor of slaves. The economics of slavery brought some owners great wealth, empowering them to become major donors to fledgling colleges. Many colleges founded in states with legalized slavery utilized enslaved people and benefited from the slavo