The Story Of Shock
On March 17, 2004, Brown attended a slavery and justice symposium at the university. The issue of how slavery was intertwined with the history of the United States and many of its great institutions was raised. “The Brown family was placed squarely at the center of the debate,” Brown writes. “My 18th century ancestors were indeed successful merchants in an Atlantic economy underpinned by the slave trade.” She listened in shock, she said, as one panelist denounced her ancestors.
This was, of course, difficult history with which to wrestle, its complexity coaxing inquiry. She said in the book that since that 2004 encounter, during which she sat “ignorant and unable to respond,” she has tried to understand her family’s legacy and how it is tied up with philanthropy.
In a telephone interview from London—where she resides part time—Brown said that her tale wasn’t born out of lingering guilt, nor a grappling with family history. Rather, the tick she is scratching away at is the question of what’s behind self-interested benevolence.
“Often when I give presentations on the history of philanthropy, I start with John Winthrop and the famous sermon on charity, which he wrote while on board the Arabella on his way to Massachusetts,” she said.
Winthrop discussed charity and the obligations of the rich toward the poor. He also compared economic equality with spiritual equality, examining the good of the individual as well as the good of the community. “Winthrop justified disparities in wealth and condition as divinely ordained so that men would have more need of each other,” Brown concluded in her book.
However, Brown’s historical observations move on from Winthrop’s point: “Then I trace how America’s attitudes on giving have evolved since the early 17th century all the way to the present, and how we have gone through a number of different eras and how our thinking has shifted radically from the original Colonial era thinking. Nevertheless, despite all these changes and transitions, charity as it was called in the 17th century, through to philanthropy, through to more impact investing today, has always been a mark of the American character. There has always been a desire to do something for society. The reasons behind that desire have evolved dramatically in 400 years, but it’s always been a very important component of who we are as Americans,” she observed.
While American society may appear more divisive today than ever before, in the context of giving and philanthropy, our meta virtues and principles are in large part unified.
Most American households (two-thirds) donate to charity annually, according to the Philanthropy Roundtable, a network of charitable donors based in Washington, D.C. In addition, 63 million Americans volunteer their time, according to the most recent Giving USA report.
And charitable giving is at an all-time high, despite (or perhaps in spite of) the current, heated political landscape. Charitable giving reached nearly $400 billion in 2016, says Giving USA.