Tucker Hall
The Tucker family serves as a prime example of the varying opinions on slavery held by the faculty at William & Mary. Tucker Hall is named for St. George Tucker, who studied law at William & Mary under George Wythe (who also taught Thomas Jefferson). St. George Tucker would eventually teach law at William & Mary and in 1796, Tucker wrote and published A Dissertation on Slavery: With A Proposal for the Gradual Abolition of It in the State of Virginia. Later, his son, Nathaniel Beverly Tucker would also attend and teach law at William & Mary. Unlike his father, Beverly Tucker believe vehemently that slavery was beneficial to all involved. Tucker family certainly weren't the only William & Mary faculty that had strong opinions about slavery. President Thomas Roderick Drew, who became president in 1836, was a vocal advocate for slavery, calling it an absolute and necessary good. John Millington, who served as a Professor of Chemistry and Natural Philosophy from 1836-1848, was known to entertain his guests by tricking black people into receiving electric shock.
Tucker Hall, circa 2009. ~
Portrait of St. George Tucker, 1804. ~
Photo of John Millington by P.S. Duval & Co., undated. ~
, "Tucker Hall," TribeTrek, accessed January 19, 2020, https://tribetrek.wm.edu/items/show/99.
https://scdbwiki.swem.wm.edu/wiki/index.php?title=Tucker_Hall https://scdbwiki.swem.wm.edu/wiki/index.php?title=St._George_Tucker_(1752-1827) https://scdbwiki.swem.wm.edu/wiki/index.php?title=Nathaniel_Beverley_Tucker_(1784-1851) https://scdbwiki.swem.wm.edu/wiki/index.php?title=John_Millington