Scarlet and Black Project

The Scarlet & Black Project illuminates the history of Rutgers University, slavery, and disenfranchisement in New Jersey. Featuring a virtual walking tour of the New Brunswick campus, digital exhibits, primary sources, interactive maps, and intensive historical research, this app serves as a digital companion to the Scarlet and Black books published by Rutgers University Press.

The Scarlet and Black Project is a historical exploration of the experiences of two disenfranchised populations, African Americans and Native Americans, at Rutgers University. Its initial work begins with Scarlet and Black, Volume 1: Slavery and Dispossession in Rutgers History, which traces the university’s early history, uncovering how the university benefited from the slave economy and how Rutgers came to own the land it inhabits. The work continues with Scarlet and Black Volume II: Constructing Race and Gender at Rutgers, 1865-1945, which provides new context for the lives of Rutgers’ first African American students, the "forerunner generation" to the Civil Rights activists of the 1950s, 60s, and 70s. Volume II also examines how concepts related to race and gender evolved during the 20th century at Rutgers College and its newly created women’s college. The upcoming third volume will focus on student activism and the contemporary history of ​students of color from World War II to the present.