One hundred thirty-one years after his death, Robert Sutherland has returned to Queen’s.
On Feb. 23, the Board of Trustees unanimously voted in favour of a student-initiated motion to rename the Policy Studiesbuilding Robert Sutherland Hall to honour the legacy of Queen’s first major benefactor.
Sutherland, the first black person to graduate from a British-North American university and be called to the bar of Upper Canada, graduated from Queen’s in 1852. Upon his death in 1878, he left his entire estate to Queen’s—a $12,000 bequest that at the time was equal to the University’s annual operating budget.Continue...