Queen Nzingha, also known as Ann Nzingha, was overlord of portions of both Angola and Zaire. She has been called the "greatest military strategist that ever confronted the armed forces of Portugal."

Nzingha's military campaigns kept the Portuguese in Africa at bay for more than four decades. Her objective was nothing less than the complete and total destruction of the African slave trade.

Nzingha sent ambassadors throughout West and Central Africa with the intent of enlisting a huge coalition of African armies to eject the Portuguese.

A number of individuals at the University of Virginia have determined to follow that formal statement with a collective response to the legacy of slavery, segregation and discrimination in the history of the University of Virginia.

Forced, unpaid labor established some of the finest educational, economic and structural systems in America today. For example, Yale University’s first scholarship, first endowed professorship and first library were established with slavery profits. Even now, eight of Yale’s twelve schools bear the names of wealthy slave owners, and Yale is not alone. Rhode Island slave trader, John Brown, used his profits to create what was later known as Fleet Boston Bank and what later became Brown University, another one of today’s most prestigious Ivy League schools.