In 2006 and 2016, the University of Pennsylvania denied any ties to slavery. In 2017, a group of undergraduate researchers, led by Professor Kathleen Brown, investigated this claim. Initial research, focused on 18th century faculty and trustees who owned slaves, revealed deep connections between the university's history and the institution of slavery. These findings, and discussions amongst the researchers shaped the Penn and Slavery Project's goal of redefining complicity beyond ownership. Breanna Moore's contributions in PSP's second semester expanded the project's focus to include generational wealth gaps. In 2018, VanJessica Gladney served as the PSP's Public History Fellow and spread the project outreach in the greater Philadelphia area. That year, the PSP team began to design an augmented reality app as a Digital Interruption and an attempt to display the truth about Penn's history on its campus. Unfortunately, PSP faced delays due to COVID 19. Despite setbacks, the project persisted, engaging with activists and the wider community to confront historical injustices and modern inequalities.

翻译：2006年与2016年，宾夕法尼亚大学曾两次否认其与奴隶制存在任何关联。2017年，由凯瑟琳·布朗教授带领的本科生研究团队对这一声明展开调查。初期研究聚焦于18世纪拥有奴隶的教职员工与校董，揭示了该校历史与奴隶制度之间的深层联系。这些发现以及研究者之间的讨论，促使"宾大与奴隶制项目"重新定义"共谋"范畴——超越直接奴隶主身份。布里安娜·摩尔在该项目第二学期的贡献拓展了研究视角，将代际财富差距纳入考查范围。2018年，范杰西卡·格拉德尼担任该项目公共历史研究员，将研究辐射范围扩展至大费城地区。同年，项目团队开始设计增强现实应用程序，作为"数字干扰"实验，试图在校园空间呈现宾大历史的真实面貌。因新冠疫情冲击，该项目遭遇延迟。尽管面临重重阻碍，该项目始终秉持与活动家及更广泛社区合作的理念，持续对抗历史不公与当代不平等问题。