Crimson staff writer

Maya H. McDougall

Latest Content


‘Five Generations of Renty’

The implications of Lanier v. Harvard do not end with the daguerreotypes in the Peabody Museum. The case could dictate the future of reparations in the United States and is potentially the most important case for racial justice since Brown v. Board.


Tauheed Z. Islam

The cat's name is Tobi, short for Tobias, and Tauheed Z. Islam '21 shares him with his girlfriend of seven years. Spending time with her (and his cat) has been a silver lining of the pandemic.


Becky Cooper: Harvard Detective

Becky Cooper '10 published her new non-fiction book, “We Keep the Dead Close: A Murder at Harvard and Half a Century of Silence" on Nov. 10. The book dives into a story Cooper stumbled upon as an undergrad, which started out as little more than a rumor. The whispers told of a young Anthropology graduate student named Jane Britton.


Virtually Equal?

The switch to remote learning brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic has challenged all members of the University’s large and diverse student body. But the burden of finishing the school year away from Harvard’s campus weighs more heavily on certain students than others — and often those from first-generation or low-income (FGLI) backgrounds, from rural homes, and from time zones across the globe shoulder a disproportionate load. While the possibility of a fall semester conducted entirely or partially online looms, students must weigh the continuation of their education against the frustrations and fears that accompany college during quarantine.


The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe's Crisis Within a Crisis

As he prepared his citizens to face the COVID-19 pandemic, Cedric D. Cromwell, the chairman and president of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, learned that the Department of the Interior had decided to move his tribe’s land “out of trust” — threatening the Mashpee’s right to exist. His battle is what one Harvard professor calls “the untold story of the pandemic,” the latest challenge in a 300 year struggle for sovereignty.


To Choose a Side or Check a Box

I assure you, I do not consider myself a “tragic mulatto,” or feel like every day of life is a punishment for my parents’ sins. The irony is that I would be perfectly unperplexed by my racial identity if it weren’t for the perceptions of others.


Uncatalogued

Amid an ongoing lawsuit contesting the Peabody Museum’s possession of a series of daguerreotypes that depict two enslaved people, scholars and activists have focused their attention on the museum’s collection and acquisition practices. But the daguerreotypes central to the lawsuit were only discovered in the Peabody’s collection in 1976 — a discovery that raises questions about what other objects may languish uncatalogued and anonymous in the boxes, racks, and milk crates the museum secrets away.