The researchers have used archival records to follow their footsteps, from the Jesuit plantations in Maryland, to the docks of New Orleans, to three plantations west and south of Baton Rouge, La. In 1851, Thompson purchased the second half of Johnson's property, so that by the beginning of the Civil War, all the slaves sold by Mulledy to Johnson were owned by Thompson. Dubuisson described how the public reputation of the Jesuits in Washington and Virginia declined as a result of the sale. Youll never know where you came from, said Mlisande Short-Colomb, a descendant of the group of slaves, in a statement about the project. [52] In 2014, renovation began on Ryan and Mulledy Halls to convert them into a student residence. An alumnus, following the protest from afar, wondered if more needed to be done. As Black Americans as descendants of enslaved people we have always been told youll never know who you are. The date when the last slaves were freed in Texas 18 months after they had officially freed at the end of the Civil War. They change every day, so check often. Georgetown University Archives The Jesuits had sold off individual slaves before. The New York Times would like to hear from people who have done research into their genealogical history. Dr. Rothman, the Georgetown historian, heard about Mr. Cellinis efforts and let him know that he and several of his students were also tracing the slaves. It would not survive, Father Mulledy feared, without an influx of cash. Now students, professors and alumni want to know what happened to those men and women and what the university will do moving forward. Although modern slavery is not always easy to recognize, it continues to exist in nearly every country. Now they are real to me, she said, more real every day.. Mismanaged and inefficient, the Maryland plantations no longer offered a reliable source of income for Georgetown College, which had been founded in 1789. [57], In September 2015, DeGioia convened a Working Group on Slavery, Memory, and Reconciliation to study the slave sale and recommend how to treat it in the present day. As a result, he had to sell his property in the 1840s and renegotiate the terms of his payment. Several substitutions were made to the initial list of those to be sold, and 91 of those initially listed remained in Maryland. He was valued at $900. CONTENT MAY BE COPYRIGHTED BY WIKITREE COMMUNITY MEMBERS. [1] The Jesuits received land patents from Lord Baltimore in 1636, were gifted land in the some Catholic Marylanders' wills, and purchased some land on their own, eventually becoming substantial landowners in the colony. When the Society of Jesus was suppressed worldwide by Pope Clement XIV in 1773, ownership of the plantations was transferred from the Jesuits' Maryland Mission to the newly established Corporation of Roman Catholic Clergymen. There is joy in that, she said, exhilaration even. They could then make 40% on the labor of the slave and pay the bank 8%. Hundreds of Blacks were slaughtered and 10,000 left homeless in this largely unknown event. They worried that new owners might not allow the slaves to practice their Catholic faith. Father Van de Velde begged Jesuit leaders to send money for the construction of a church that would provide for the salvation of those poor people, who are now utterly neglected.. 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. The worn gravestone had toppled, but the wording was plain: Neely Hawkins Died April 16, 1902.. However, the remainder of the money received did go to funding Jesuit formation. this helps us promote a safe and accountable online community, and allows us to update you when other commenters reply to your posts. Through the project, genealogists have discovered 8,425 descendants of enslaved people sold in 1838. [68], Georgetown University also extended to descendants of slaves that the Jesuits owned or whose labor benefitted the university the same preferential legacy status in university admission given to children of Georgetown alumni. You are here: blueberry crumble cake delicious magazine; hendersonville nc city council candidates 2021; list of slaves sold by georgetown university . It is necessary to keep in mind that these people were free in their native country and enslaved once they got to America. The ship manifest of the Katharine Jackson, available in full at the. His owner, Mr. Batey, had died, and Cornelius appeared on the plantations inventory, which included 27 mules and horses, 32 hogs, two ox carts and scores of other slaves. After the Jesuits vacated the buildings, Ryan and Mulledy Halls lay vacant, while Gervase Hall was put to other use. Georgetown and the College of the Holy Cross renamed buildings, and the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States pledged to raise $100 million for the descendants of slaves owned by the Jesuits. Documents provide the factual framework, but people supply the human story.. While it would seem as if there would be some mention of this in history, it remained largely unknown. A few priests expressed qualms about the morality of human trafficking to Jesuit authorities, although most were concerned with the threat a heavily Protestant South would undoubtedly present to the slaves Catholic faith, it reads. She does not put much stock in what she describes as casual institutional apologies. But she would like to see a scholarship program that would bring the slaves descendants to Georgetown as students. In fact, Harvard, Columbia, Brown, University of Virginia did as well. list of slaves sold by georgetown university. 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 It would be better to suffer financial disaster than suffer the loss of our souls with the sale of the slaves, wrote the Rev. [54] Despite the decades of scholarship on the subject, this revelation came as a surprise to many Georgetown University members,[48][55] and some criticized the retention of Mulledy's name on the building. And she learned that Cornelius had worked the soil of a 2,800-acre estate that straddled the Bayou Maringouin. In recognizing the role Georgetown in the use of slaves as money, they are recognizing some of the depths of what slavery actually represented. She was the citys first black woman television anchor. (Valuable Plantation and Negroes for Sale, read one newspaper advertisement in 1852.). Jesse Batey died in 1851 and the White Oak Plantation was sold. (The two men would swap positions by 1838.). The week also provided opportunities for members of the descendant community to connect with one another and with Jesuits through a private vigil on Monday night, a descendant-only dinner on Tuesday evening and tours of the Maryland plantation where their ancestors were enslaved. [39], While Roothaan ordered that the proceeds of the sale be used to provide for the training of Jesuits, the initial $25,000 was not used for that purpose. We can't do it without youAmerica Media relies on generous support from our readers. [34] During the controversy, Mulledy fell into alcoholism. Are You A Liturgist With A Passion to Form Young Adults? But few were lucky enough to escape. Three Jesuits traveled aboard The Ark and The Dove on Lord Baltimore's voyage to settle Maryland in 1634. [16] Mulledy in particular felt that the plantations were a drain on the Maryland Jesuits; he urged selling the plantations as well as the slaves, believing the Jesuits were only able to support either their estates or their schools in growing urban areas: Georgetown College in Washington, D.C. and St. John's College in Frederick, Maryland. Today, the universitys leaders, students and alumni are grappling with how to confront that history. In 1838, the Jesuit priests who ran the countrys top Catholic university needed money to keep it alive. Other industries made loads of money indirectly. This resulted in families being split for economic reasons with no consideration of human relationships. In November, the university agreed to remove the names of the Rev. What Does It Owe Their Descendants? Your email address will not be published. [22], In October 1836, Roothaan officially authorized the Maryland Jesuits to sell their slaves, so long as three conditions were satisfied: the slaves were to be permitted to practice their Catholic faith, their families were not to be separated, and the proceeds of the sale had to be used to support Jesuits in training,[23] rather than to pay down debts. Some wrote emotional letters to Roothaan denouncing the morality of the sale. [18], The Maryland Jesuits, having been elevated from a mission to the status of a province in 1833,[17] held their first general congregation in 1835, where they considered again what to do with their plantations. Continue scrolling down for more amazing information, videos, books and value items. In 2013, Georgetown began planning to renovate the adjacent Ryan, Mulledy, and Gervase Halls, which together served as the university's Jesuit residence until the opening of a new residence in 2003. [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. Books and Textbooks One of the greatest ways to advance your life choices and future. But the 1838 slave sale organized by the Jesuits, who founded and ran Georgetown, stands out for its sheer size, historians say. She runs a nonprofit, Dialogue on Race Louisiana, that offers educational programs on institutional racism and ways to combat it. This indispensable guide presents academic administrators and staff with advice on building an equity-minded campus culture, aligning strategic priorities and institutional missions to advance equity, understanding equity-minded data analysis, developing campus strategies for making excellence inclusive, and moving from a first-generation equity educator to an equity-minded practitioner. Your source for jobs, books, retreats, and much more. On June 19, 1838, the Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus agreed to sell 272 slaves to two southern Louisiana sugar planters, former governor Henry Johnson and Jesse Batey, for $115,000, equivalent to $2.79 million in 2020, in order to rescue Georgetown University from bankruptcy. ). Mr. Cellini is an unlikely racial crusader. It is better to prevent than to attempt to remedy. This is the original list of slaves from the Jesuit plantations compiled in preparation for the sale in 1838. Login to post. IMPORTANT PRIVACY NOTICE & DISCLAIMER: YOU HAVE A RESPONSIBILITY TO USE CAUTION WHEN DISTRIBUTING PRIVATE INFORMATION. [12], One of the Maryland Jesuits' institutions, Georgetown College (later known as Georgetown University), also rented slaves. They were looking to buy slaves in the Upper South more cheaply than they could in the Deep South, and agreed to Mulledy's asking price of approximately $400 per person. GSA28: William Gaston entrusts a slave named Augustus to Fr. One building was renamed for Isaac Hawkins, first on the list of the 272 human beings sold in 1838. [36], Soon after the sale, Roothaan decided that Mulledy should be removed as provincial superior. It has been stated that value of slaves in America was more valuable than all the industrial and transportation capital of the United States in the first half of the 19th century. What can you do to make amends?. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Keynote || Radcliffe Institute WELCOME Lizabeth Cohen, Dean, Radcliffe Institute, and Howard Mumford Jones Professor of American Studies, Harvard University OPENING REMARKS (12:07) Drew Gilpin Faust, President and Lincoln Professor of History, Harvard University KEYNOTE (15:51) Ta-Nehisi Coates, Journalist; National Correspondent, the Atlantic: Author, Between the World and Me (Spiegel & Grau, 2015) and The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons, and an Unlikely Road to Manhood (Spiegel & Grau, 2008) Conversation between Ta-Nehisi Coates and Drew Gilpin Faust (34:37). It was his Catholicism, born on the Jesuit plantations of his childhood, that would provide researchers with a road map to his descendants. American Ancestors announced the new GU272 Memory Project website on June 19, the anniversary of Juneteenth, the day in 1865 when some American slaves learned they had been freed. This is not a disembodied group of people, who are nameless and faceless, said Mr. Cellini, 52, whose company, Briefcase Analytics, is based in Cambridge, Mass. [19] At the congregation, the senior Jesuits in Maryland voted six to four to proceed with a sale of the slaves,[20] and Dubuisson submitted to the Superior General a summary of the moral and financial arguments on either side of the debate. She found out about the Jesuits and Georgetown and the sea voyage to Louisiana. In 1996, the Jesuit Plantation Project was established by historians at Georgetown, which made available to the public via the internet digitized versions of much of the Maryland Jesuits' archives, including the articles of agreement for the 1838 sale. There is no indication that he received any response. Georgetown University was an active participant in the slave trade selling upwards of 272 slaves from their Maryland run plantation to the deep south in an effort to support the then struggling university in 1838 according to The New York Times. Consider the following list: Top 10 Countries with the Highest Prevalence of Modern Slavery (by slaves per 1000 residents) - Global Slavery Index 2018: North Korea - 104.6 (10.46%) Eritrea - 93 (9.3%) Burundi - 40 (4.0%) Central African Republic . In 2017, Georgetown University held aday of remembranceduring which the president of the Jesuit order apologized to more than 100 descendants attending a contrition liturgy. Ashby's account book at Newtown.For a spreadsheet with all the data transcribed, seeGSA5. [28], Anticipating that some of the Jesuit plantation managers who opposed the sale would encourage their slaves to flee, Mulledy, along with Johnson and a sheriff, arrived at each of the plantations unannounced to gather the first 51 slaves for transport. 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. Why am I being asked to create an account? Against the conditions agreed upon, families were separated due to this sale. . Kenney found the slaves facing arbitrary discipline, a meager diet, pastoral neglect, and engaging in vice. While the plantations were initially worked by indentured servants, as the institution of indentured servitude began to fade away in Maryland, African slaves replaced indentured servants as the primary workers on the plantations. [58] In November of that year, following a student-led protest and sit-in,[59] the working group recommended that the university temporarily rename Mulledy Hall (which opened during Mulledy's presidency in 1833)[60] to Freedom Hall, and McSherry Hall (which opened in 1792 and housed a meditation center)[61] to Remembrance Hall. Interview: Whats it like to photograph Pope Francis? [47], While the 1838 slave sale gave rise to scandal at the time, the event eventually faded out of the public awareness. (Slaves were often donated by prosperous parishioners.) They also established schools on their lands. The records describe runaways, harsh plantation conditions and the anguish voiced by some Jesuits over their participation in a system of forced servitude. 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. Another building has been renamed Anne Marie Becraft Hall in honor of a free Black woman who established a school in the town of Georgetown for Girls of color. The students organized a protest and a sit-in, using the hashtag #GU272 for the slaves who were sold. Join Amazon Prime Watch Thousands of Movies & TV Shows Anytime . Please see also: Slaves Transported on the Katherine Jackson of Georgetown, Arriving New Orleans 6 Dec 1838, Source: "List of slaves on each estate to be sold," Box 40, Folder 10, Maryland Province Archives[2], Categories: Ascension Parish, Louisiana, Slave Owners | Ascension Parish, Louisiana, Slaves | Iberville Parish, Louisiana, Slave Owners | Iberville Parish, Louisiana, Slaves | Georgetown University, Washington, District of Columbia | Georgetown University Slaves | District of Columbia, Slave Owners | District of Columbia, Slaves | Maryland, Slaves | Maryland, Slave Owners, WIKITREE HOME | ABOUT | G2G FORUM | HELP | SEARCH. This sale was overseen by Provincial Superior William McSherry and Friar Thomas Mulledy. We ask our visitors to confirm their email to keep your account secure and make sure you're able to receive email from us. [50] Curran also published Georgetown University's official, bicentennial history in 1993, in which he wrote about the university's and Jesuits' relationship with slavery. [3], Much of this land was put to use as plantations, the revenue from which financed the Jesuits' ministries. And she would like to see Corneliuss name, and those of his parents and children, inscribed on a memorial on campus. [42], Before the abolition of slavery in the United States in 1865, many slaves sold by the Jesuits changed ownership several times. By the end of December, one of Mr. Cellinis genealogists felt confident that she had found a strong test case: the family of the boy, Cornelius Hawkins. It lists the slaves by name according to plantation where they lived, identifies family groups, and records which ship (1, 2, or 3) they were shipped in. [27] The agreement provided that 51 slaves would be sent to the port of Alexandria, Virginia in order to be shipped to Louisiana. As a Georgetown employee, Jeremy Alexander watched as the university grappled with its haunted past: the sale of slaves in 1838 to help rescue it from financial ruin. Georgetown was a prominent Jesuit priests. William McSherry, the college presidents involved in the sale, from two campus buildings. Copyright 2023 America Press Inc. | All Rights Reserved. Of the sum, $8,000 was used to satisfy a financial obligation that,[23] following a long-running and contentious dispute, Pope Pius VII had previously determined the Maryland Jesuits owed to Archbishop Ambrose Marchal of Baltimore and his successors. Were sorry registration isn't working smoothly for you. [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. In the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) and the Catholic Church were among the largest slaveholding institutions in America. in Fr. Thomas Hibbert (1710-1780), English merchant, he became rich from slave labor on his Jamaican plantations. [72] In 2021, the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States pledged to raise $100million for a newly created Descendants Truth and Reconciliation Foundation, which would aim to ultimately raise $1billion, with the purpose of working for the benefit of descendants of all slaves owned by the Jesuits. She feels great sadness as she envisions Cornelius as a young boy, torn from everything he knew. One-hundred-seventy-eight years ago, Georgetown University was free to everyone who was able to attend; it was also massively in debt. Alfred Francis Russell (1817-1884), 10th President of Liberia. However, the total number of slaves is only one way to measure the level of slavery in a country. Unknown because that portion of history is so like anything that reflects on the horrors of slavery preempted from our history. Georgetown Jesuits enslaved her ancestors. Twenty-seven years earlier, a document dated June 19, 1838, showed that Maryland Jesuit priests sold 272 slaves to the owners of Louisiana plantations. Our membership program offers special benefits to college students including: * Unlimited FREE Two-Day Shipping (with no minimum order size), * Exclusive deals and promotions for college students, Georgetown University confronts its history with slavery. [48] It is one of the most well-documented slave sales of its era. [5] The first record of slaves working Jesuit plantations in Maryland dates to 1711, but it is likely that there were slave laborers on the plantations a generation before then. [50], In 1981, historian Robert Emmett Curran presented at academic conferences a comprehensive research into the Maryland Jesuits' participation in slavery, and published this research in 1983. Father Mulledy promised his superiors that the slaves would continue to practice their religion. Her great-uncle had the name, as did one of her cousins. Logging in will also give you access to commenting features on our website. She is outraged that the churchs leaders sanctioned the buying and selling of slaves, and that Georgetown profited from the sale of her ancestors. A Reader on Slavery, Memory, and Reconciliation A microcosm of the history of American slavery in a collection of the most important primary and secondary readings on slavery at Georgetown University and among the Maryland Jesuits Georgetown Universitys early history, closely tied to that of the Society of Jesus in Maryland, is a microcosm of the history of American slavery: the entrenchment of chattel slavery in the tobacco economy of the Chesapeake in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; the contradictions of liberty and slavery at the founding of the United States; the rise of the domestic slave trade to the cotton and sugar kingdoms of the Deep South in the nineteenth century; the political conflict over slavery and its overthrow amid civil war; and slaverys persistent legacies of racism and inequality. [15], While Roothaan decided in 1831, based on the advice of the Maryland Mission superior, Francis Dzierozynski, that the Jesuits should maintain and improve their plantations rather than sell them, Kenney and his advisors (Thomas Mulledy, William McSherry, and Stephen Dubuisson) wrote to Roothaan in 1832 about the growing public opposition to slavery in the United States, and strongly urged Roothaan to allow the Jesuits to gradually free their slaves. Leaders in policy, business, technology, science, history, arts and culture engaged with top journalists on the most consequential issues of our time. Its hard to know what could possibly reconcile a history like this, he said. This has made people reluctant to see the past and this has had a long term harm by remaining hidden and allowed to fester. [29] Some of the initial 272 slaves who were not delivered to Johnson were replaced with substitutes. Richard Cellini, the chief executive of a technology company and a Georgetown alumnus, hired eight genealogists to track down the slaves and their descendants. (Ms. Bayonne-Johnson discovered her connection through an earlier effort by the university to publish records online about the Jesuit plantations.). [34] In the years after the sale, it also became clear that most of the slaves were not permitted to carry on their Catholic faith because they were living on plantations far removed from any Catholic church or priest. Georgetown University (Daniel Slim/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images) Article A genealogical organization launched a free website Wednesday to help those who want to learn more about the. Inspiring Stories of Black History and Achievement, 272 Slaves Sold to Finance Georgetown University. The enslaved African-Americans had belonged to the nations most prominent Jesuit priests. [7], By 1824, the Jesuit plantations totaled more than 12,000 acres (4,900 hectares) in the State of Maryland, and 1,700 acres (690 hectares) in eastern Pennsylvania. From Equity Talk to Equity Walk: A Guide for Campus-Based Leadership and Practice is a vital wealth of information for college and university presidents and provosts, academic and student affairs professionals, faculty, and practitioners who seek to dismantle institutional barriers that stand in the way of achieving equity, specifically racial equity to achieve equitable outcomes in higher education. At Georgetown, slavery and scholarship were inextricably linked. [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.
