But did it's founding fathers took grants from someone about whom history is not that glorious? I first read about this in a book by Indian economist Sanjeev Sanyal.
The university is named after a Boston born businesses man Elihu Yale who was once the director of British East India Company as well. As we all know to an extent the treacherous ways adopted by promoters of the company to plunder the wealth of India. In the process some of company officials became ultra rich and Elihu Yale was one of them.
Elihu Yale joined the East India Company as a low level clerk who rose to the position of director of the company. He was the President of Madras (Fort St George) between 1684 till 1692. As the President of Madras Yale was at the node of the slave trade routes in the Indian Ocean which linked South East Asia, Middle East and Africa. As per documents available from Fort St George, a minimum of 10 slaves were ordered into outbound European ships. It cannot be said that Yale was the only one who profited from this endeavor but he was surely one of the.
In fact Yale University Art Gallery has a portrait of Elihu Yale which shows him in the company of other white men and a collared slave (see image below). The painting more than anything else proves donor's approval of slave trade.
Yale also engaged in numerous other secret and dubious trade contracts including property acquisition which were not in accordance with the laws of the company. He amassed his great personal wealth through such measures. He was also notorious for the imposition of high taxes and torture on the Indian population.
Ultimately corruption charges were leveled against him by the company and he was soon removed from the post of President. He was forced to stay in Madras till 1699 and pay a fine before returning to London.
It was with this Elihu Yale that Cotton Mather from Connecticut Collegiate School. established contact asking for donations. Yale made an initial donation of 32 books and later on being offered that the college could be renamed after him in exchange of a larger donation, sent a across books and textiles which were sold £800 by the school . The institution changed it's name to Yale College which later became Yale University in 1745.
Today Yale University is the seat of most advanced education on earth but it maintains it's association with slave trade and colloquial exploitation through it's name. And Elihu Yale is remembered as a philanthropist.
References:
- https://www.britannica.com/biography/Elihu-Yale
- http://digitalhistories.yctl.org/2014/11/01/elihu-yale-was-a-slave-trader/
- https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/astounding-tale-slavery-and-deceit-yale-universitys-madras-connection-57228
Image Source:
- https://artgallery.yale.edu/
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