Tales of Two Yales

Born April 5, 1649, Elihu Yale was an American-born British colonial administator who served as President of the British East India Company settlement in Fort St. George, at Madras. He oversaw economic operations, including slave trading, while supervising Fort St. George. Historians debate whether he opposed or encouraged the slave trade. Two paintings of him do show a young enslaved man, apparently Tamil, with a locked collar around his neck. ... Yale retired to Wales. Back in America, in 1718, a small place in Connecticut called Collegiate School was struggling financially. New England clergyman Cotton Mather approached Yale about a gift to the school. Yale sent over £800 worth of books and goods--$100,000 or more today. Collegiate School was soon named Yale College in his honor. Yale College became Yale University in 1887... During the past several years, there have been many discussions about the fact that the school's namesake had some involvement in the slave trade, and what was the school's early history in relation to slavery. Should the school be renamed after 322 years? It seems unlikely, although one of the colleges was recently renamed for Rear Adm. Grace Hopper, rather than the slavery-supporting alumni John C. Calhoun. A recent alum magazine has an article about slavery at Yale and in New Haven in the early years. Good that it's being acknowledged and discussed.

Born April 4, 1821, Linus Yale Jr. was a mechanical engineer and manufacturer who cofounded the Yale Lock Company. He invented types of locks, notably the cylinder lock, and types of bank locks still in use today. Linus Yale was a distant relative to Elihu Yale, both of them related through Thomas Yale, one of the founders of New Haven Colony in 1639.