Yale built on foundation of Indian textiles

Yale University on February 16 issued a formal apology for its long and complex involvement in slavery racism and abolition This was accompanied by the release of Yale and Slavery A History by Pulitzerprize winning author David W Blight with the Yale and Slavery Research Project The book begins with the early history of Connecticut where in the 18th century roughly 50 per cent of the economy was connected to trade with the West Indies which depended on slavery Yale students and faculty members began working on the Yale and Slavery Research project in October 2020 five months after the death of George Floyd an AfricanAmerican man killed by a white Minneapolis police officerBhasha Chakrabarti an MFA graduate in painting and printmaking at Yale School of Art was among the students that presented their research findings at the Yale College seminar on Slavery Race and Yale in 2021 ldquoI was expected to write an essay in the book but I decided against it although my research was funded by the university I would rather have it live on in other ways like talking about it to peoplerdquo says Chakrabarti 32 on the phone from Hampi where she is part of an art residency programmeBarely two weeks into her MFA programme Chakrabarti accidentally got access to the invoice of the original donation made by Elihu Yale to the IVY league university founded in 1701A reconstruction of a list of additional items sourced from The Alchemy of Empire Abject Materials and the Technologies of Colonialism by Rajani Sudan includes a jar of nutmeg 13 pairs of gingham sheets and 31 pieces of Madras chintz sent by Elihu Yale to the collegiate school Pics CourtesyBhasha ChakrabartiIn 1718 Yale was East India Companyrsquos former governor of Fort St George or White Town in Madras where the white company officers including Yale livedThis donation comprised over 300 volumes of books that can still be accessed at the Yale University library a painting of King George I of Great Britain and Irelandmdashpainted in England in 1714 by Godfrey Knellermdashcan be found in the universityrsquos art gallery and ldquotwohundredpound sterling worth of English goodsrdquo The surviving records clearly indicate that there was no cash or gold or silver bullion among this donation Chakrabarti clarifies but rather ldquoEnglish goodsrdquo consisting exclusively of various types of textiles ldquoCompared to the meticulous detail with which the books and painting within the same endowment were documented and preserved as forms of knowledge scarce records were kept of the textile goods This speaks to the relationship that the college had with cloth from India both financially extractive and epistemologically devaluingrdquoA close investigation revealed 25 pieces of garlix one of the most commonly imported cloth to the Americas in the 18th century across all colonies and used widely for clothing by native and enslaved Black people 17 pieces of stufe term for worsted cloth or cloth made from brushed yarns usually woven wool 12 pieces of Spanish poplin two pieces of black and white crape silk crepe almost surely of English origin three pieces of Camlett this likely refers to a fine animal hair cloth like pashmina or cashmere from India five pieces of muslin and 18 pieces of calicoCalico could mean a range of things Chakrabarti explains but at that time a large section of calico implied Madras chintz ldquoRecords show that by 1721 all cloth sent by Elihu Yale had been sold in Boston and that the money from the sales exceeded the value of any other single donation given to the college for the next century It can perhaps be said that it was cloth handwoven by Indian weavers that secured the transformation of a small school in Connecticut with a tenuous future into the invincibly solvent Yale University as we know it today In addition to the fact that it obviously led to naming the university after Elihu Yalerdquo she explains ldquoI spent a lot of time trying to justify the significance of cloth and then life crashed when I discovered that the college was built on clothrdquoIt is important to note that the date of Yalersquos donationmdashcirca 1718mdashcoincides with the time that the Calico Acts passed by the British Parliament in 1700 and 1721 these acts banned the sale and use of imported calico cloth in Britain was in effect At this time the value of Indian textiles on the global stage was primarily fuelled by their demand in the Atlantic markets of the American colonies and West AfricaWithin the American colonies Indian cloth was especially coveted in the colonies of the West Indies and could be traded for almost any goods produced there at premium value Furthermore the 1720 to 1780 makes the period when the largest number of enslaved Africans were brought to British North America ldquoEven without the details of who the exact buyers were in exploring where and when they sold the goods we can deduce that the college probably participated even more directly in the slave trade by acting as suppliers of Indian cloth to merchants of ships that dealt in enslaved people and goods produced through enslaved labourrdquoChakrabarti calls Madras plaid seductive ldquoThe affluent wanted to keep this lsquoelitersquo fabric to themselves by banning enslaved Black peoplemdasheven mulattos in the West Indiesmdashfrom wearing it This suggests distinctions embedded in hierarchies of fabrics Madras plaid was not a prized fabric in the domestic Indian market yet it attained a status because of its association with powerrdquo says Bhasha ChakrabartiBorn to Indian parents in Honolulu Chakrabarti was introduced to the intimacy of quiltmaking as a child ldquoQuilt making is an important artistic expression in Hawaii and since my father is Bengali I was familiar with the kantha craftrdquoHer art practice is centred on notions of mending repair and repurposing while critiquing the legacies of colonialism and their continued sway ldquoI learned to weave and sew very early on and practice it daily But my primary work entails historical research and you can say that I fell into Madras plaid when I found the invoice turning the fabric into oral historyrdquo