Humans of Tyson 2024

 
 
 
 
 

Kelly Schmidt

Reparative Public Historian, Team Humans

 

Kelly Schmidt, Reparative Public Historian and Associate Professor of African and African American Studies, has been integral to uncovering Tyson’s ties to Indigenous land and African American enslavement this summer.  

We see the legacies of slavery and racism everywhere. 

“I joined WashU as part of the ‘WashU & Slavery Project.’ WashU is a part of a consortium of 100 universities called, Universities Studying Slavery. 

Our efforts are to understand WashU’s entanglements with how they related to Greater St. Louis’ ties to slavery and the legacies that those entanglements continue to impact, especially the Black communities today. We are incorporating efforts across all of WashU’s schools. We see the legacies of slavery and racism everywhere. 

Before this summer, we knew bits and pieces of Tyson’s history and a lot of it was mythologized. But now we are finding out who lived on this land before us, how it was used, and the people and resources exploited in the process. We have uncovered remnants of Indigenous people from before written history and are beginning to tell that story. This summer I have mainly worked alongside Emmett [Kearns], researching the brutal enslavers who owned this land. It is so important to bring these stories back into conversation and address their legacy and impact today.”