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. Georgetown owned these human beings and they had been used to build the institutions physical buildings, tend farms and perform hard labor under rigid control. Roughly two-thirds of the Jesuits former slaves including Cornelius and his family had been shipped to two plantations so distant from churches that they never see a Catholic priest, the Rev. Articles in the Woodstock Letters, an internal Jesuit publication that later became accessible to the public, routinely addressed both subjects during the course of its existence from 1872 to 1969. 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. On November 14, 2015, DeGioia announced that he and the university's board of directors accepted the working group's recommendation, and would rename the buildings accordingly. The hope was to eventually identify the slaves descendants. It was his Catholicism, born on the Jesuit plantations of his childhood, that would provide researchers with a road map to his descendants. In November, the university agreed to remove the names of the Rev. Mr. Cellini, whose genealogists have already traced more than 200 of the slaves from Maryland to Louisiana, believes there may be thousands of living descendants. The children with Mr.. As Black Americans as descendants of enslaved people we have always been told youll never know who you are. [11] On some plantations, the majority of slaves did not work because they were too young or old. What has emerged from their research, and that of other scholars, is a glimpse of an insular world dominated by priests who required their slaves to attend Mass for the sake of their salvation, but also whipped and sold some of them. Their panic and desperation would be mostly forgotten for more than a century. That building is now known as Freedom Hall. Freedom Hall became Isaac Hawkins Hall, after the first slave listed on the articles of agreement for the 1838 sale. [26] Johnson and Batey were to be held jointly and severally liable and each additionally identified a responsible party as a guarantor. In recognizing the role Georgetown in the use of slaves as money, they are recognizing some of the depths of what slavery actually represented. Ashby's account book at Newtown.For a spreadsheet with all the data transcribed, seeGSA5. But the decision to sell virtually all of their enslaved African-Americans in the 1830s left some priests deeply troubled. Last edited on 25 February 2023, at 03:24, Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States, abolition of slavery in the United States, Slavery at American colleges and universities, "Where were the Jesuit plantations in Maryland? Several substitutions were made to the initial list of those to be sold, and 91 of those initially listed remained in Maryland. We ask readers to log in so that we can recognize you as a registered user and give you unrestricted access to our website. In 1836, the Jesuit Superior General, Jan Roothaan, authorized the provincial superior to carry out the sale on three conditions: the slaves must be permitted to practice their Catholic faith, their families must not be separated, and the proceeds of the sale must be used only to support Jesuits in training. 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. Participants in this discussion are: Drew Gilpin Faust, President, Harvard University. The worn gravestone had toppled, but the wording was plain: Neely Hawkins Died April 16, 1902.. Anyone can read what you share. Logging in will also give you access to commenting features on our website. Documents provide the factual framework, but people supply the human story.. 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. The Rev. A fantastic research tool with video camera, navigation programs and so much more. On that same day, the university rededicated two buildings previously named for former university presidents who were priests and supporters of the slave trade. Ms. Crump, a retired television news anchor, was driving to Maringouin, her hometown, in early February when her cellphone rang. [13], Beginning in 1800, there were instances of the Jesuit plantation managers freeing individual slaves or permitting slaves to purchase their freedom. 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. In all, the Jesuits sold 314 men, women and children over a 5-year period stretching from 1838 to 1843. Start Free Trial Now Our membership program offers special benefits for just $99 per year: *Unlimited instant streaming of thousands of movies and TV shows, *FREE Two-Day Shipping on millions of items, *Unlimited, ad-free streaming of over a million songs and more Prime benefits, Join Amazon Prime Watch Thousands of Movies & TV Shows Anytime Start Free Trial Now. For Black History Month 2021, we focused on Black Medical Achievements, Inventors and Scientists.To see those posts, click here. [50], The 1838 slave sale returned to the public's awareness in the mid-2010s. Most of the 314 enslaved people were sent to Louisiana, but about a third remained in Maryland or were sold to other locations, according to an article on the website. 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. (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. Behind her are sugar plantations and the sugar mill where her ancestors worked. [17], Mulledy and McSherry became increasingly vocal in their opposition to Jesuit slave ownership. She prides herself on being unflappable. 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. Georgetown is not the first or only university to own slaves. Twenty-seven years earlier, a document dated June 19, 1838, showed that Maryland Jesuit priests sold 272 slaves to the owners of Louisiana plantations. Some slaves pleaded for rosaries as they were rounded up, praying for deliverance. Upon receipt of these 51, Johnson and Batey were to pay the first $25,000. American Ancestors announced the new GU272 Memory Project website on Wednesday (June 19), the anniversary of Juneteenth, the day in 1865 when some American slaves learned they had been freed. Shoes and clothing were made in the North and shipped to be used by the enslaved people. Today, the universitys leaders, students and alumni are grappling with how to confront that history. in Fr. To this day the search continues. [49] There was periodic and sometimes extensive coverage of both the sale and the Jesuits' slave ownership in various literature. That man, Thomas Mulledy, then the president of Georgetown University, had sold 272 slaves to pay off a massive debt strangling the university. Georgetown Reflects on Slavery, Memory, and Reconciliation Georgetown is engaged in a long-term and ongoing process to more deeply understand and respond to the university's role in the injustice of slavery and the legacies of enslavement and segregation in our nation. And the money raised by the sale would not be used to pay off debt or for operating expenses. [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. 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. The two feared that because the public would not accept additional manumitted blacks, the Jesuits would be forced to sell their slaves en masse. By the 1840s, word was trickling back to Washington that the slaves new owners had broken their promises. The two women drove on the narrow roads that line the green, rippling sugar cane fields in Iberville Parish. What can you do to make amends?. Join Amazon Prime Watch Thousands of Movies & TV Shows Anytime . people, women and others in the Catholic Church, Cardinal Cupich: Critics of Pope Francis Latin Mass restrictions should listen to JPII. An alumnus, following the protest from afar, wondered if more needed to be done. John DeGioia, President, Georgetown University. [24], Mulledy quickly made arrangements to carry out the sale. Thomas F. Mulledy and the Rev. (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. . To see the posts, click here. 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. That alumnus, Richard J. Cellini, the chief executive of a technology company and a practicing Catholic, was troubled that neither the Jesuits nor university officials had tried to trace the lives of the enslaved African-Americans or compensate their progeny. 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. They were heading to the only Catholic cemetery in Maringouin. But thewebsiteincludes a spreadsheet of 314 individuals whom genealogists have identified as being part of the group sold by the Jesuit priests. Some children were sold without their parents, records show, and slaves were dragged off by force to the ship, the Rev. 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. Its hard to know what could possibly reconcile a history like this, he said. However, the total number of slaves is only one way to measure the level of slavery in a country. [48] It is one of the most well-documented slave sales of its era. Books and Textbooks One of the greatest ways to advance your life choices and future. Use our links to Amazon anytime you shop Amazon. She runs a nonprofit, Dialogue on Race Louisiana, that offers educational programs on institutional racism and ways to combat it. To see information on Juneteenth, click here. Three Jesuits traveled aboard The Ark and The Dove on Lord Baltimore's voyage to settle Maryland in 1634. And the 1838 sale worth about $3.3 million in todays dollars was organized by two of Georgetowns early presidents, both Jesuit priests. Key then transferred this property to John R. Thompson. [37] As censure for the scandal,[39] Roothaan ordered Mulledy to remain in Europe,[35] and Mulledy lived in exile in Nice until 1843. 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. [71] The university instead decided to raise $400,000 per year in voluntary donations for the benefit of descendants. But priests at the Jesuit plantations recounted the panic and fear they witnessed when the slaves departed. [51] Other historians covered the subject in literature published between the 1980s and 2000s. 2023 A Month of Tribute to 31 Women We Should All Know, Rosewood A Typical Race Riot in America. A photograph of Frank Campbell, one of 272 slaves sold to keep Georgetown University afloat, was found in a scrapbook at Nicholls State University in Louisiana. The sale prompted immediate outcry from fellow Jesuits. [9] The main crops grown were tobacco and corn. 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. Other industries made loads of money indirectly. It would be better to suffer financial disaster than suffer the loss of our souls with the sale of the slaves, wrote the Rev. Jesuit priests in Maryland sold 272 slaves to Louisiana plantations in 1838 to fund Georgetown . The church records helped lead to a 69-year-old woman in Baton Rouge named Maxine Crump. At the time, the Catholic Church did not view slaveholding as immoral, said the Rev. ). He demanded that Mulledy travel to Rome to answer the charges of disobeying orders and promoting scandal. In the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) and the Catholic Church were among the largest slaveholding institutions in America. But the 1838 slave sale organized by the Jesuits, who founded and ran Georgetown, stands out for its sheer size, historians say. There was no need for a map. One building is now named in honor of a slave who was 65 years old when he was sold in 1838. Unknown because that portion of history is so like anything that reflects on the horrors of slavery preempted from our history. [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. In November, the university agreed to remove the names of the Rev. Amazing! Within two weeks, Mr. Cellini had set up a nonprofit, the Georgetown Memory Project, hired eight genealogists and raised more than $10,000 from fellow alumni to finance their research. The second is now named for a free African-American woman who founded a school for Catholic black girls in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Since 2015, Georgetown has been working to address its historical relationship to slavery and will continue to do so, a Georgetown spokesman said in a statement to Religion News Service on Friday. Mismanaged and inefficient, the Maryland plantations no longer offered a reliable source of income for Georgetown College, which had been founded in 1789. The articles of agreement listed each of the slaves by name to be sold. Jesuit Father Hans Zollner will be a consultant for the Diocese of Romes office dedicated to safeguarding minors and vulnerable people. Interview: Whats it like to photograph Pope Francis? The notation betrayed no hint of the turmoil on board. 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. They worried that new owners might not allow the slaves to practice their Catholic faith. [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. 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. And they are confronting a particularly wrenching question: What, if anything, is owed to the descendants of slaves who were sold to help ensure the colleges survival? [64] Mulledy Hall, a student dormitory that opened in 1966,[65] was renamed as BrooksMulledy Hall in 2016, adding the name of a later president, John E. Brooks, who worked to racially integrate the college. Her great-uncle had the name, as did one of her cousins. Some tips for making the most of your twilight years. if you are trying to comment, you must log in or set up a new account. CNN In 1838, the Jesuits who ran Georgetown University sold 272 enslaved people to pay off the university's debts. [32] An unknown number of slaves may also have run away and escaped transportation. Slavery was much more than the theft of labor; it was the deprivation of liberty for which this country professes so loudly. William McSherry, the college presidents involved in the sale, from two campus buildings. [45] Patrick and Woolfolk's slaves were then sold in July 1859 to Emily Sparks, the widow of Austin Woolfolk. The college relied on Jesuit plantations in Maryland to help finance its operations, university officials say. All of this was new to Ms. Crump, except for the name Cornelius or Neely, as Cornelius was known. Other Jesuits voiced their anger to the Archbishop of Baltimore, Samuel Eccleston, who conveyed this to Roothaan. Georgetown was a prominent Jesuit priests. To pay that debt, the university sold 272 slaves the very people that helped build the school itself. 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. After the sale, Cornelius vanishes from the public record until 1851 when his trail finally picks back up on a cotton plantation near Maringouin, La. 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.. 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. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. A Reflection for Friday of the First Week of Lent, by Jill Rice. [3], Much of this land was put to use as plantations, the revenue from which financed the Jesuits' ministries. Descendants are learning new links to their pasts as a result of the project. Expanding Practitioner Knowledge for Racial Justice in Higher Education From Equity Talk to Equity Walk offers practical guidance on the design and application of campus change strategies for achieving equitable outcomes. 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. Other slaves were sold locally in Maryland so that they would not be separated from their spouses who were either free or owned by non-Jesuits, in compliance with Roothaan's order. There is joy in that, she said, exhilaration even. [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. [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. 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. THEY NEED TO BE FOUND AND LINKED. African-Americans are often a fleeting presence in the documents of the 1800s. [36], Soon after the sale, Roothaan decided that Mulledy should be removed as provincial superior. [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. [4][a] Several of the Jesuits' slaves unsuccessfully attempted to sue for their freedom in the courts in the 1790s. None of those conditions were met, university officials said. [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. This was a great cause of the wealth of the slaveowners who took advantage of land stolen from the original owners, the Native Americans who had lived here for centuries. It also features audio recordings in which descendants recall memories, from segregated education to family migration away from the South. Limit 20 per day. We shop for the best values for you. Revealed: The Slave Sold to Save Georgetown by Stacy M. Brown March 22, 2017 Frank Campbell was sold in 1838 to help save Georgetown. But the revelations about her lineage and the church she grew up in have unleashed a swirl of emotions. WIKITREE PROTECTS MOST SENSITIVE INFORMATION BUT ONLY TO THE EXTENT STATED IN THE TERMS OF SERVICE AND PRIVACY POLICY. The sale however is the largest one acknowledged to date. Father Mulledy promised his superiors that the slaves would continue to practice their religion. [137] Thomas C. Hindman (1828-1868), American politician and Confederate general. (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. [8] In reality, by the early 19th century, the Jesuit plantations were in such a state of mismanagement that the Jesuit Superior General in Rome, Tadeusz Brzozowski, sent Irish Jesuit Peter Kenney to review the operations of the Maryland Mission as a canonical visitor in 1820. GSA28: William Gaston entrusts a slave named Augustus to Fr. Cardinal McElroy responds to his critics on sexual sin, the Eucharist, and LGBT and divorced/remarried Catholics, Worried you retired too early? She was the citys first black woman television anchor. 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. Colleges and universities have placed greater emphasis on education equity in recent years. A Jesuit reports on the slaves' religious life in Louisiana, 1848, Chatham Plantation, Ascension Parish, Louisiana. Having descendant voices present alongside historical documents is an essential part of the GU272 narrative, said Claire Vail, the projects director for American Ancestors, in an announcement about the website. In 1838, the Jesuit priests who ran the countrys top Catholic university needed money to keep it alive. 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. [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. The grave of Cornelius Hawkins, one of 272 slaves sold by the Jesuits in 1838 to help keep what is now Georgetown University afloat. list of slaves sold by georgetown university. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/17/us/georgetown-university-search-for-slave-descendants.html. The site includes a searchable database with genealogies of descendants who have died. [12], One of the Maryland Jesuits' institutions, Georgetown College (later known as Georgetown University), also rented slaves. Wondering why we ask for your email, or having trouble registering. [27] Johnson allowed these slaves to remain in Maryland because he intended to return and try to buy their spouses as well. Password reset instructions will be sent to your registered email address. (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 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. Corneliuss extended family was split, with his aunt Nelly and her daughters shipped to one plantation, and his uncle James and his wife and children sent to another, records show. Now, with racial protests roiling college campuses, an unusual collection of Georgetown professors, students, alumni and genealogists is trying to find out what happened to those 272 men, women and children. Patricia Bayonne-Johnson, a descendant of another of the slaves sold by the Jesuits, is the president of the Eastern Washington Genealogical Society in Spokane, Wash., which is helping to track the slaves and their families.
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