Isaac Royall, Jr.

Isaac Royall Jr. (1719 – 1781) was an Antiguan-born merchant, politician and slave trader who spent the majority of his life in the Province of Massachusetts Bay.

Early life

Royall was born in 1719 in the British colony of Antigua to Isaac Royall Sr. and Elizabeth Browne. His father was born in North Yarmouth in modern-day Maine before moving to Dorchester, Massachusetts in 1675. Isaac had eventually settled in Antigua, purchasing a slave plantation on the island in 1700; he also traded in rum, sugar, and slaves. In 1736, when Royall was 17, British colonial officials in Antigua gained wind of a planned slave rebellion among the colony's slaves, and responded with a brutal crackdown; " total of 132 enslaved persons were convicted, and 88 executed: five by being broken on the wheel, six by gibbeting, and 77 by burning at the stake."

Life in Massachusetts

Concomitantly, a series of events which affected Antigua, such as a drought in 1725, a hurricane in 1733, earthquakes in 1735, and a smallpox epidemic in 1737 severely impacted the Royall family's finances. When they moved to Massachusetts, the Royall family brought at least 27 slaves with them, making them "the largest slaveholding family" in the colony.

In 1738, Royall married Elizabeth McIntosh, the 15-year-old daughter of a friend of Royall's father. The marriage was advantageous and confirmed Royall's status as a member of the New England elite. Royall and Elizabeth had three daughters, Elizabeth (who died as a child), Mary, and Elizabeth. He commissioned several paintings of his family; in 1741, Robert Feke completed a group portrait that depicted Royall with his wife, sister Penelope, sister-in-law Mary McIntosh Palmer, and daughter Elizabeth. John Singleton Copley painted Royall's daughters Mary and Elizabeth , his wife Elizabeth , and Royall himself .

Later life and death

Elizabeth died in 1770. In 1775, as the American Revolutionary War neared, Royall's daughters left for England. Although he was sympathetic to the Patriot cause, Royall's wealth was based on his ties to powerful Loyalist families and the Crown. Royall fled Medford just three days before the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the first military engagement of the war. Failing to secure passage to Antigua, he sailed to Nova Scotia, Belinda "had to petition the Massachusetts legislature six times to receive her due." In Royall's will, he also left land to Harvard College to help the institution establish its first law professorship. This bequest led to the founding of Harvard Law School in 1817. In 1936, to celebrate Harvard University's tercentenary, Harvard alumnus and former professor Pierre de Chaignon la Rose created coat of arms for each of Harvard's graduate schools. For Harvard Law School, la Rose incorporated Royall's coat of arms, which was azure with three sheaves of wheat Or. The armorial bearings were adopted by the President and Fellows of Harvard College.

In 2016, the seal became the object of controversy due to Royall's ownership of slaves. A group of Harvard students operating under the name "Royall Must Fall" (inspired by the Rhodes Must Fall movement in South Africa) organized to have the seal removed. After several racist incidents involving members of Harvard Law School, the school's dean Martha L. Minow was pressured by students to create a committee of students, university employees, and alumni, which recommended that the seal be changed. Royall's estate, now known as the Isaac Royall House, currently serves as a museum and historic site. It includes the only surviving example of freestanding slave quarters in the Northern United States.