The Belinda Sutton Quadrangle
Belinda Sutton was an African woman enslaved by the Royall family - a prominent family of New England whose wealth from the International Slave Trade contributed to the first law school professorship at Harvard University. Belinda is significant as one of the first documented records of a former enslaved person seeking money owed after her manumission, an early discourse around reparations in the Massachusetts courts.
JIMA Studio - in partnership with Reed Hilderbrand - is working with several university committees to develop a conceptual design that commemorates Belinda's life - and that of other known enslaved people connected to the school. The goal is to develop a space on campus thatbalances daily use with intentional meditation and honoring. For this effort, JIMA led extension research on Belinda, looking to piece together missing qualities that may inform a more well rounded understanding of Belinda as an individual to be translated within a site design.
JIMA also served as a Design Lead for the concept design, exploring site materials, plantings and other elements that would contextualize Belinda's experience as both an enslaved and freed woman.
Client
Harvard Law School
Location
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Year
2022-2024
The pictured student quad was recently renamed the Belinda Sutton Quadrangle in honor of Belinda Sutton, and in anticipation of the site’s revisioning.
This design project was greatly informed by a robust timeline exploration that used each of Belinda Sutton’s petitions to piece together information on her life. These petitions were compared to the known events and timeline of her enslavers to further contextual Belinda’s experiences.
While not knowing how to read, Belinda signed each petition with an “x”. She initiated these petitions in her old age, with each writing more desperate than the last. While there are no images of Belinda Sutton, her signature is the only tangible element available to the design to respond to. These marks informed a textural element that allows visitors to experience “her mark",” bringing the archives to those who seek to contemplate her life.
Team
Ujijji Williams
Location
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Credits
Design Partner: Reed Hildebrand
The final design features a curved wall, engraved with the timeline developed from this process, and the names of other enslaved peoples known to the Royall family.