Killingworth (Connecticut, USA), 1701. They founded Collegiate School. In 1716 the new school was transferred to New Haven and two years later, in 1718, it was named Yale, one of the most prestigious universities in the United States and the world.

Businessman Elihu Yale (1649-1721), born in Boston that year, donated to university nine goods bundle. They got about 560 pounds of sold donations, which allowed them to build a new building. So they put the name of the philanthropist to college.

For twenty years, Yale was a member of the British East India Company, occupying increasingly important positions and governor of Madrid (India) since 1684. Through speculation he used the Company’s money for his own benefit through secret contracts with traders. After all, he raised a lot of money in the Indian compilation. He was dismissed in 1699 for actions against the company. He then moved to England, where he began to waste the good collected, with donations that sometimes gave him prestige and prestige. Thus, who became famous for his cruelty and his hunger for money in Madrid, became after his death “a man of great charity”.

In recent years, several researchers have studied the origin of Yale's good. And historian Joseph Yannielli adds a fundamental element to Yale's sources of income: slavery. According to Yannielli, Yale not only accepted slavery, “directed and driven the slave trade in the Indian Ocean.” A special rule came into force in the 1680s: European vessels leaving Indian ports were required to carry 10 slaves.

Yale's early biographers didn't even mention its relationship to slavery. But all documents and minutes of the British East India Company are digitalized and available to anyone today, and, according to Yannieli, “now they have no excuse to ignore.” Yannielli is not the only one who has studied the subject and more and more are asking for the university to change its name.

A team from Yale University, chaired by historian David Blight over the past three years, has studied this connection in detail. A few weeks ago, the university presented an ambitious book entitled Yale and slavery: a history, which includes this study. At the same time, Yale University apologizes for the link between the institution and slavery. But there is no mention of the possibility of renaming in the official donation.