They were looked on not as humans but as collateral and sold to secure the future of this great Catholic institution that hold such a place of honor to this day. The number of slaves transported to Louisiana (206) and the number left in Maryland (91) add up to 297, not 272, because some of the 272 slaves initially identified to be sold were substituted with replacements. And they were sold, along with scores of others, to help secure the future of the premier Catholic institution of higher learning at the time, known today as Georgetown University. [12], One of the Maryland Jesuits' institutions, Georgetown College (later known as Georgetown University), also rented slaves. [37] As censure for the scandal,[39] Roothaan ordered Mulledy to remain in Europe,[35] and Mulledy lived in exile in Nice until 1843. Shoes and clothing were made in the North and shipped to be used by the enslaved people. As Black Americans as descendants of enslaved people we have always been told youll never know who you are. Required fields are marked *. The internal slave trade in the United States, also known as the domestic slave trade, the Second Middle Passage and the interregional slave trade, was the term for the domestic trade of enslaved people within the United States that reallocated slaves across states during the Antebellum period.It was most significant after 1808, when the importation of slaves was prohibited. Anne Marie Becraft Hall, formerly known as McSherry Hall and renamed Remembrance Hall two years ago, is named for a free woman of color who established a school in the town of Georgetown for black girls. He was about 48 then, a father, a husband, a farm laborer and, finally, a free man. [48] In 1977, the Maryland Province named Georgetown's Lauinger Library as the custodian of its historic archives, which were made available to the public through the Georgetown University Library, Saint Louis University Library, and Maryland State Library. Drawing from campus-based research projects sponsored by the Association of American Colleges and Universities and the Center for Urban Education at the University of Southern California, this invaluable resource provides real-world steps that reinforce primary elements for examining equity in student achievement, while challenging educators to specifically focus on racial equity as a critical lens for institutional and systemic change. Tracing His Roots, Georgetown Employee Learns University Sold His [42], Before the abolition of slavery in the United States in 1865, many slaves sold by the Jesuits changed ownership several times. (RNS) A genealogical association has launched a new website detailing the family histories of slaves who were sold to keep Catholic-run Georgetown University from bankruptcy in the 1800s. They also knew that life on plantations in the Deep South was notoriously brutal, and feared that families might end up being separated and resold. (Best for messages specifically directed to those editing this profile. Jan Roothaan, who headed the Jesuits international organization from Rome and was initially reluctant to authorize the sale. [52] In 2014, renovation began on Ryan and Mulledy Halls to convert them into a student residence. Slaves and the products they produced were responsible for well over 50% of the entire GNP of the United States. That man, Thomas Mulledy, then the president of Georgetown University, had sold 272 slaves to pay off a massive debt strangling the university. [34] Many Maryland Jesuits were outraged by the sale, which they considered to be immoral, and many of them wrote graphic, emotional accounts of the sale to Roothaan. Please visit ourmembership pageto learn how you can invest in our work by subscribing to the magazine or making a donation. They could then make 40% on the labor of the slave and pay the bank 8%. (Valuable Plantation and Negroes for Sale, read one newspaper advertisement in 1852.). Modern Countries That Still Have Slavery | The Borgen Project Logging in will also give you access to commenting features on our website. They were heading to the only Catholic cemetery in Maringouin. In addition to becoming physically dilapidated, all but one of the plantations had fallen into debt. A Reflection for Saturday of the First Week of Lent, by Christopher Parker. Georgetown University, GU272 Slaves - WikiTree We encourage you to visit our website, call us at (202)-687-8330, or email us at descendants@georgetown.edu if you are interested in learning more or sharing your ideas and reflections. They also established schools on their lands. Some children were sold without their parents, records show, and slaves were dragged off by force to the ship, the Rev. [5] In October of that year, Mulledy succeeded McSherry, who was dying, as provincial superior. (CNS photo/Tyler Orsburn) On Oct. 29, John J. DeGioia, president of Georgetown University, released a university-wide letter announcing that Georgetown would commit to raising around. Cornelius had originally been shipped to a plantation so far from a church that he had married in a civil ceremony. James Van de Veldes. Through the project, genealogists have discovered 8,425 descendants of enslaved people sold in 1838. Items Georgetown Slavery Archive - Georgetown University [40] The remaining $17,000, equivalent to approximately $440,000 in 2021,[25] was used to offset part of Georgetown College's $30,000 of debt that had accrued during the construction of buildings during Mulledy's prior presidency of the college. [56] An undergraduate student also brought this to public attention in several articles published by the school newspaper, The Hoya between 2014 and 2015, about the university's relationship with slavery and the slave sale. Timothy Kesicki, S.J., president of the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States, during a morning Liturgy of Remembrance, Contrition, and Hope. [15] Alice Clifton (c. 1772-unknown), as an enslaved teenager, she was a defendant in an infanticide trial in 1787. To pay that debt, the Jesuits who ran the school, under the auspices of the Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus, sold 272 slaves -- the very people that helped build the school itself.. Examined and found correct, he wrote of Cornelius and the 129 other people he found on the ship. We shop for the best values for you. To comment or make suggestions on future posts, use Contact Us. in Fr. [30] In total, only 206 are known to have been transported to Louisiana. More than a dozen universities including Brown, Columbia, Harvard and the University of Virginia have publicly recognized their ties to slavery and the slave trade. In letters written to Jesuit superiors in Maryland, one priest who accidentally crossed paths with the slaves in Louisiana after the sale bemoaned the fact that the slaves couldnt practice Catholicism.. Georgetown Apologizes for 1838 Sale of More - Georgetown University Much more than a way to chat. An alumnus, following the protest from afar, wondered if more needed to be done. In fact, Harvard, Columbia, Brown, University of Virginia did as well. This was only a portion of the slaves bought and sold by the Maryland Jesuits over time.[1]. [69] Several groups of descendants have been created, which have lobbied Georgetown University and the Society of Jesus for reparations, and groups have disagreed with the form that their desired reparations should take. Thomas F. Mulledy and the Rev. However, the history of the sale and the Jesuits' slave ownership was never secret. The grave of Cornelius Hawkins, one of 272 slaves sold by the Jesuits in 1838 to help keep what is now Georgetown University afloat.CreditWilliam Widmer for The New York Times. Participants in this discussion are: Drew Gilpin Faust, President, Harvard University. Thomas F. Mulledy, president of Georgetown from 1829 to 1838, and again from 1845 to 1848, arranged the sale. The site includes a searchable database with genealogies of descendants who have died. Following Batey's death, his West Oak plantation and the slaves living there were sold in January 1853 to Tennessee politician Washington Barrow and Barrow's son, John S. Barrow, a resident of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Interview: Whats it like to photograph Pope Francis? A notation on the second page indicates that it was discovered by Fr. Relationship Counseling - Marriage resources, Falling in Love Finding God Marriage and the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola, Sacred Heart Seminary and School of Theology, The problem of hatredand how Christians are contributing to it, Jesuit sex abuse expert appointed to Vatican office for child protection, Sin, hell and scrupulosity: How to repent during Lent (and how not to). What can you do to make amends?. History must be faced in order to heal and move forward! [38] While McSherry initially persuaded Roothaan to forgo removing Mulledy,[37] in August 1839, Roothaan resolved that Mulledy must be removed to quell the ongoing scandal. Some tips for making the most of your twilight years. We encourage you to share the site on social media. Johnson and Batey agreed to pay $115,000,[5] equivalent to $2.96million in 2021,[25] over the course of ten years plus six percent annual interest. [5] McSherry delayed selling the slaves because their market value had greatly diminished as a result of the Panic of 1837,[24] and because he was searching for a buyer who would agree to these conditions. [9] The main crops grown were tobacco and corn. In November, the university agreed to remove the names of the Rev. Unknown because that portion of history is so like anything that reflects on the horrors of slavery preempted from our history. What it feels like to see your name on a list of slaves sold by - MSN The university created the liturgy in partnership with members of the descendant community, the Archdiocese of Washington and the Society of Jesus in the United States. By the 1840s, word was trickling back to Washington that the slaves new owners had broken their promises. This admissions preference has been described by historian Craig Steven Wilder as the most significant measure recently taken by a university to account for its historical relationship with slavery. We pray with you today because we have greatly sinned and because we are profoundly sorry.. Join Amazon Prime Watch Thousands of Movies & TV Shows Anytime . Login to post. Georgetown University confronts its history with slavery In the uproar that followed, he was called to Rome and reassigned. Leaders in policy, business, technology, science, history, arts and culture engaged with top journalists on the most consequential issues of our time. [35] He ordered McSherry to inform Mulledy that he had been removed as provincial superior, and that if Mulledy refused to step down, he would be dismissed from the Society of Jesus. She runs a nonprofit, Dialogue on Race Louisiana, that offers educational programs on institutional racism and ways to combat it. [48] It is one of the most well-documented slave sales of its era. At Georgetown, slavery and scholarship were inextricably linked. To this day the search continues. Joseph Carberry, 1824 GSA29: Priscilla Queen petitions for her freedom, 1810 GSA30: Edward Queen petitions for his freedom, 1791 GSA31: Proceedings of the General Chapter at White Marsh, May 1789 GSA32: Fanny & her family, 1815 The presidents of Harvard University and Georgetown University discuss their institutions historic ties to slavery in a conversation with Ta-Nehisi Coates. Use our links to Amazon anytime you shop Amazon. Behind her are sugar plantations and the sugar mill where her ancestors worked. A Reflection for Friday of the First Week of Lent, by Jill Rice. The Rev. He might have disappeared from view again for a time, save for something few could have counted on: his deep, abiding faith. [8] These consisted primarily of the plantations of White Marsh in Prince George's County, St. Inigoes and Newtown Manor in St. Mary's County, St. Thomas Manor in Charles County, and Bohemia Manor in Cecil County. Enslaved, marginalized and forced into illiteracy by laws that prohibited them from learning to read and write, many seem like ghosts who pass through this world without leaving a trace. It is better to prevent than to attempt to remedy. New website shows genealogy of descendants of slaves sold to benefit During this time, the Jesuits funded some of the most prestigious institutions of higher education in America in part through profits earned on their plantations. Slavery was much more than the theft of labor; it was the deprivation of liberty for which this country professes so loudly. You dont have to purchase the item in the link but using the link helps both of us and we thank you for your support. Now they are real to me, she said, more real every day.. [72][70] Georgetown also made a $1million donation to the foundation and a $400,000 donation to create a charitable fund to pay for healthcare and education in Maringouin, Louisiana. We also posted a 5 part mini-series on the 100th anniversary of one of the most horrific massacres in the history of America. [66] In 2020, the college removed Mulledy's name. [47], While the 1838 slave sale gave rise to scandal at the time, the event eventually faded out of the public awareness. The sale prompted immediate outcry from fellow Jesuits. GSA28: William Gaston entrusts a slave named Augustus to Fr. March 24, 2017. We can't do it without youAmerica Media relies on generous support from our readers. On that same day, the university rededicated two buildings previously named for former university presidents who were priests and supporters of the slave trade. On June 19, 1838, the Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus agreed to sell 272 slaves to two Louisiana planters, Henry Johnson and Jesse Batey, for $115,000 (equivalent to approximately $2.96million in 2021). [37], Before Roothaan's order reached Mulledy, Mulledy had already accepted the advice of McSherry and Eccleston in June 1839 to resign and go to Rome to defend himself before Roothaan. It also notes slaves who had run away, and those who had been "married off." [26] Johnson and Batey were to be held jointly and severally liable and each additionally identified a responsible party as a guarantor. This coincided with a protest by a group of students against keeping Mulledy's and McSherry's names on the buildings the day before. It will challenge and change your understanding of what we were as Americans and of what we are. Chicago Tribune In this groundbreaking historical expos, Douglas A. Blackmon brings to light one of the most shameful chapters in American history an Age of Neo slavery that thrived from the aftermath of the Civil War through the dawn of World War II. The institution came under fire last fall, with students demanding justice for the slaves in the 1838 sale. Meet Paul Haring, the CNS photographer who covered the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI and the election of Francis, numerous international papal trips and the daily action of Vatican life for over a decade. They worried that new owners might not allow the slaves to practice their Catholic faith. Slaves were often threatened with having family members sold away, splitting parents from even infants because of minor infractions as determined by the slave owner. The two feared that because the public would not accept additional manumitted blacks, the Jesuits would be forced to sell their slaves en masse. A Glimpse Into the Life of a Slave Sold to Save Georgetown As a result, he had to sell his property in the 1840s and renegotiate the terms of his payment. However, the remainder of the money received did go to funding Jesuit formation. Georgetown University Archives The Jesuits had sold off individual slaves before. Isaac Hawkins was the first enslaved person listed in the 1838 sale document. History of slaves sold for Georgetown detailed in new genealogical website Despite coverage of the Maryland Jesuits' slave ownership and the 1838 sale in academic literature, news of these facts came as a surprise to the public in 2015, prompting a study of Georgetown University's and Jesuits' historical relationship with slavery. He has contacted a few, including Patricia Bayonne-Johnson, president of the Eastern Washington Genealogical Society in Spokane, who is helping to track the Jesuit slaves with her group. She found out about the Jesuits and Georgetown and the sea voyage to Louisiana. Father Mulledy promised his superiors that the slaves would continue to practice their religion. The next year, Pope Gregory XVI explicitly barred Catholics from engaging in this traffic in Blacks no matter what pretext or excuse.. [46] Due to financial difficulties, Johnson sold half his property, including some of the slaves he had purchased in 1838, to Philip Barton Key in 1844.
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