During research into the 探花直播鈥檚 past links with the Atlantic slave trade, it has been established that a prominent benefactor of Jesus College and Cambridge 探花直播 Library, Tobias Rustat, was a major investor in a 17th-century slave trading company.
During research into the 探花直播鈥檚 past links with the Atlantic slave trade, it has been established that a prominent benefactor of Jesus College and Cambridge 探花直播 Library, Tobias Rustat, was a major investor in a 17th-century slave trading company.
Rustat, a courtier to Charles II, derived part of his great wealth from the Royal African Company, which was responsible for shipping more enslaved Africans to the Americas than any other institution during the period of the slave trade.
Rustat鈥檚 name appears on the charters of both the Company of Royal Adventurers of England Trading into Africa and its re-incorporated entity, 探花直播Royal African Company (RAC).
Rustat invested 拢400 and took a role in running the RAC, being elected for a yearly term as an Assistant (the rough equivalent of a Director) in the years 1676, 1679, and 1680, although his direct involvement in the day-to-day management of the company was not great.听 探花直播RAC was not consistently profitable, but Rustat received dividends on his investment.
In 1667, Rustat gave the 探花直播 Library its first endowment, 拢1000, to be spent on books of its choosing. Rustat was much later memorialised by a small late 19th-century stone statue overlooking West Court at 探花直播Old Schools, the original site of the Library.
The听Advisory Group听on the Legacies of Enslavement was asked by Vice-Chancellor Professor Stephen J Toope to make recommendations on the future of the Rustat statue. In parallel, the 探花直播 Library gave consideration to the Rustat endowment, which generates income of around 拢5000 a year.
No decision has been made regarding the statue, but preliminary enquiries are being made about the process for removing the statue from the exterior of a Grade 1 listed building.
探花直播Library is currently determining how income from this Rustat Fund might be remodelled (and renamed) in order to support active research into the slave trade and its legacies.听For the 2020-21 financial year, income from the Fund will be spent on resources about the transatlantic slave trade and about the Black diaspora.听Possible purchases will be identified collaboratively by library staff and researchers and final decisions will be taken by the Library鈥檚 Decolonisation Working Group.
Dr Jessica Gardner, Cambridge 探花直播 Librarian, said: 鈥 探花直播devastation caused by the Atlantic slave trade continues to affect millions of people globally to this day. We cannot effectively demonstrate solidarity with our black colleagues and students at Cambridge 鈥 and with others around the world 鈥 without first examining and understanding how we as an institution have benefitted from the proceeds of slavery.
鈥淎s well as asking the Inquiry to look into the Rustat benefaction, we also want to determine, with the critical help of our colleagues from the BAME community at Cambridge, how the income generated by this historic donation is best dispersed going forward.鈥
Jesus College has also听announced听that it has decided to make changes wherever Rustat is explicitly celebrated in College, following recommendations from the College鈥檚 own Legacy of Slavery Working Party.
An initial听report听from the 探花直播鈥檚 Advisory Group on Legacies of Enslavement was issued in May. A final report is due in Easter Term 2022.
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