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We encourage you to share the site on social media. Georgetown is not the first or only university to own slaves. Thomas Lilly reported. 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. [27], The articles of agreement listed each of the slaves being sold by name. Slaves Transported on the Katherine Jackson of Georgetown, Arriving New Orleans 6 Dec 1838, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1838_Jesuit_slave_sale, https://slaveryarchive.georgetown.edu/items/show/9, https://gu272.americanancestors.org/family/all-families, https://gu272.americanancestors.org/sites/default/files/2022-01/GMP%20Ancestor%20Database%202019%2002%2008%20%281%29%20%281%29.xlsx, Send a private message to the Profile Manager, Ascension Parish, Louisiana, Slave Owners, Iberville Parish, Louisiana, Slave Owners, Georgetown University, Washington, District of Columbia, Public Comments: James Van de Veldes. In the case of Amazon, please use our links whenever you shop. So in June 1838, he negotiated a deal with Henry Johnson, a member of the House of Representatives, and Jesse Batey, a landowner in Louisiana, to sell Cornelius and the others. One building is now named in honor of a slave who was 65 years old when he was sold in 1838. Mismanaged and inefficient, the Maryland plantations no longer offered a reliable source of income for Georgetown College, which had been founded in 1789. Maxine Crump, 69, a descendant of one of the slaves sold by the Jesuits, in a Louisiana sugar cane field where researchers believe her ancestor once worked. New England ship builders made ships to bring people to this country. [21], Meanwhile, in order to fund the province's operations,[22] McSherry, as the first provincial superior of the Maryland Province,[17] began selling small groups of slaves to planters in Louisiana in 1835, arguing that it was not possible to sell the slaves to local planters and that the buyers had assured him that they would not mistreat the slaves and would permit them to practice their Catholic faith. 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. 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. The 1970s saw an increase in public scholarship on the Maryland Jesuits' slave ownership. [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. IMPORTANT PRIVACY NOTICE & DISCLAIMER: YOU HAVE A RESPONSIBILITY TO USE CAUTION WHEN DISTRIBUTING PRIVATE INFORMATION. if you are trying to comment, you must log in or set up a new account. Anyone can read what you share. They were heading to the only Catholic cemetery in Maringouin. 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. 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. 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. Descendants are learning new links to their pasts as a result of the project. Central concepts and key points are illustrated through campus examples. Leaders in policy, business, technology, science, history, arts and culture engaged with top journalists on the most consequential issues of our time. It is interesting that the date was June 19th as many years later, it was on what is now recognized as Juneteenth. Today, these enslaved people are known collectively as the GU272 Ancestors. Genealogists have identified many of the original people who were sold, along with over 9000 of their descendants. The name had been passed down from generation to generation in her family. So Judy Riffel, one of the genealogists hired by Mr. Cellini, began following a chain of weddings and births, baptisms and burials. The website is part of a collaboration between Boston-based American Ancestors, also called the New England Historic Genealogical Society, and the Georgetown Memory Project, which was founded by Georgetown alumnus Richard Cellini. But the revelations about her lineage and the church she grew up in have unleashed a swirl of emotions. Twenty-seven years earlier, a document dated June 19, 1838, showed that Maryland Jesuit priests sold 272 slaves to the owners of Louisiana plantations. [67] The university also gave permanent names to the two buildings. The Jesuits ultimately received payment many years late and never received the full $115,000. Through the project, genealogists have discovered 8,425 descendants of enslaved people sold in 1838. One building was renamed for Isaac Hawkins, first on the list of the 272 human beings sold in 1838. [137] Thomas C. Hindman (1828-1868), American politician and Confederate general. Census of slaves to be sold in 1838 - Georgetown University [27] Johnson allowed these slaves to remain in Maryland because he intended to return and try to buy their spouses as well. History of slaves sold for Georgetown detailed in new genealogical website Descendants - Georgetown University A microcosm of the whole history of American slavery, Dr. Rothman said. These are real people with real names and real descendants.. [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. Eventually, Roothaan removed Thomas Mulledy as provincial superior for disobeying orders and promoting scandal, exiling him to Nice for several years. Their panic and desperation would be mostly forgotten for more than a century. He was valued at $900. [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. [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. [136] Eufrosina Hinard (born 1777), a free black woman in New Orleans, she owned slaves and leased them to others. Upon receipt of these 51, Johnson and Batey were to pay the first $25,000. To see the full listing of posts, click on our Blog list, For Black History Month 2020, we posted daily. 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. [11] On some plantations, the majority of slaves did not work because they were too young or old. The condition of slaves on the plantations varied over time, as did the condition of the Jesuits living with them. [63][38], The College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts, of which Mulledy was the first president from 1843 to 1848, also began to reconsider the name of one of its buildings in 2015. At Georgetown, slavery and scholarship were inextricably linked. In addition to becoming physically dilapidated, all but one of the plantations had fallen into debt. Ms. Crump, 69, has been asking herself that question, too. On Juneteenth, the debate comes to Congress. 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. 1838 Jesuit slave sale - Wikipedia Families would not be separated. Share with your friends! Georgetown University in Washington, seen from across the Potomac River. 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. Books and Textbooks One of the greatest ways to advance your life choices and future. Tracing His Roots, Georgetown Employee Learns University Sold His 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. Melvin Robert and Joya Mia Italiano look into Georgetown Universitys response on the Lip News. [26] Johnson and Batey were to be held jointly and severally liable and each additionally identified a responsible party as a guarantor. The articles of agreement listed each of the slaves by name to be sold. [24], Mulledy quickly made arrangements to carry out the sale. [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. 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. [51] Other historians covered the subject in literature published between the 1980s and 2000s. [41] The Jesuits never received the total $115,000 that was owed under the agreement. [5] In October of that year, Mulledy succeeded McSherry, who was dying, as provincial superior. Its hard to know what could possibly reconcile a history like this, he said. [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. [5], On June 19, 1838, Mulledy, Johnson, and Batey signed articles of agreement formalizing the sale. 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.. [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. CONTENT MAY BE COPYRIGHTED BY WIKITREE COMMUNITY MEMBERS. [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. She prides herself on being unflappable. 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. Required fields are marked *. In 1844, Henry Johnson sold a share of Chatham and would eventually sell the remainder of his land and enslaved people to John R. Thompson in 1851. As a result, he had to sell his property in the 1840s and renegotiate the terms of his payment. And she learned that Cornelius had worked the soil of a 2,800-acre estate that straddled the Bayou Maringouin. March 24, 2017. But few were lucky enough to escape. [47], While the 1838 slave sale gave rise to scandal at the time, the event eventually faded out of the public awareness. The next year, Pope Gregory XVI explicitly barred Catholics from engaging in this traffic in Blacks no matter what pretext or excuse.. [13], Beginning in 1800, there were instances of the Jesuit plantation managers freeing individual slaves or permitting slaves to purchase their freedom. The grave of Cornelius Hawkins, one of 272 slaves sold by the Jesuits in 1838 to help keep what is now Georgetown University afloat. Twenty-seven years earlier, a document dated June 19, 1838, showed that Maryland Jesuit priests sold 272 slaves to the owners of Louisiana plantations. The ship manifest of the Katharine Jackson, available in full at the. That man, Thomas Mulledy, then the president of Georgetown University, had sold 272 slaves to pay off a massive debt strangling the university. List of slaves - Wikipedia Key then transferred this property to John R. Thompson. [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. 272 Slaves Were Sold to Save Georgetown. Father Mulledy took most of the down payment he received from the sale about $500,000 in todays dollars and used it to help pay off the debts that Georgetown had incurred under his leadership. In exchange, they would receive 272 slaves from the four Jesuit plantations in southern Maryland,[5][24] constituting nearly all of the slaves owned by the Maryland Jesuits. This resulted in families being split for economic reasons with no consideration of human relationships. 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. Many have been located; however, it is difficult to determine exactly how many were exploited by the University in this financial transaction. History of slaves sold for Georgetown detailed in new genealogical Tweet. 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. Georgetown Univ. Announces Admissions 'Advantage' for - ABC News [24] When he returned in November to gather the rest of the slaves, the plantation managers had their slaves flee and hide. She still wants to know more about Corneliuss beginnings, and about his life as a free man. If you login and register your print subscription number with your account, youll have unlimited access to the website. A Reflection for Saturday of the First Week of Lent, by Christopher Parker. The slaves were also identified as collateral in the event that Johnson, Batey, and their guarantors defaulted on their payments. We shop for the best values for you. 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. The two women drove on the narrow roads that line the green, rippling sugar cane fields in Iberville Parish. But he was persuaded to reconsider by several prominent Jesuits, including Father Mulledy, then the influential president of Georgetown who had overseen its expansion, and Father McSherry, who was in charge of the Jesuits Maryland mission. [48] It is one of the most well-documented slave sales of its era. The truth was closer to home than anyone knew", "272 Slaves Were Sold to Save Georgetown. But on this day, in the fall of 1838, no one was spared: not the 2-month-old baby and her mother, not the field hands, not the shoemaker and not Cornelius Hawkins, who was about 13 years old when he was forced onboard. The two feared that because the public would not accept additional manumitted blacks, the Jesuits would be forced to sell their slaves en masse. ", What We Know: Report to the President of The College of The Holy Cross 2016, "Historical Timeline: Events Affecting the GU272 from the 1838 Sale to the Present", "Bill of Sale from the Heirs of Jesse Batey to Washington Barrow, January 18, 1853", "Bill of Sale for Land and People from Washington Barrow to William Patrick and Joseph B. Woolfolk, February 4, 1856", "Bill of Sale for Land and 138 People from William Patrick and Joseph Woolfolk to Emily Sparks, Widow of Austin Woolfolk, July 16, 1859", "Henry Johnson's Sales of Enslaved Persons, 18441851", Report of the Working Group on Slavery, Memory, and Reconciliation 2016, "University Requests Change in Use for Ryan Hall and Mulledy Hall", "Renovation of Former Jesuit Residence Beginning May 19", "Slavery's Remnants, Buried and Overlooked", "Georgetown University to rename two buildings that reflect school's ties to slavery", "Announcing the Working Group on Slavery, Memory & Reconciliation", "Concrete Expressions of Georgetown's Jesuit Heritage: A Photographic Sampler of Campus Buildings and the Jesuits for Whom They are Named From the University Archives", "Heeding Demands, University Renames Buildings", "Mulledy Name To Be Removed From BrooksMulledy Hall", "President's Response to Report of the Mulledy/Healy Legacy Committee", "Georgetown Apologizes, Renames Halls After Slaves", "Georgetown Apologizes for 1838 Sale of More Than 270 Enslaved, Dedicates Buildings", "Georgetown University Plans Steps to Atone for Slave Past", "For Georgetown, Jesuits and Slavery Descendants, Bid for Racial Healing Sours Over Reparations", "Georgetown Students Agree to Create Reparations Fund", "Catholic Order Pledges $100 Million to Atone for Slave Labor and Sales", "Saving Souls and Selling Them: Jesuit Slaveholding and the Georgetown Slavery Archive", "Foundation and First Administration of the Maryland Province, Part I: Background", "Catholic Slaveowners and the Development of Georgetown University's Slave Hiring System, 17921862", Report of the Working Group on Slavery, Memory, and Reconciliation to the President of Georgetown University, The Lost Jesuit Slaves of Maryland: Searching for 91 people left behind in 1838, What We Know: Report to the President of The College of The Holy Cross, Slavery, History, Memory, and Reconciliation Project, Video of Isaac Hawkins Hall dedication ceremony from C-SPAN, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=1838_Jesuit_slave_sale&oldid=1141447737, This page was last edited on 25 February 2023, at 03:24. Other industries made loads of money indirectly. Banks would finance land purchases using slaves as collateral. Shoes and clothing were made in the North and shipped to be used by the enslaved people. (Best for messages specifically directed to those editing this profile. You can either click on the link in your confirmation email or simply re-enter your email address below to confirm it. ", New England Historic Genealogical Society, "They thought Georgetown University's missing slaves were 'lost.' However, the history of the sale and the Jesuits' slave ownership was never secret. If youre already a subscriber or donor, thank you! 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? 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. Timothy Kesicki, S.J., president of the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States, during a morning Liturgy of Remembrance, Contrition, and Hope. A fantastic research tool with video camera, navigation programs and so much more. Are You A Liturgist With A Passion to Form Young Adults? 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. Georgetown University Sold Hundreds of SlavesDoes That Still Matter? 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. 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. The institution came under fire last fall, with students demanding justice for the slaves in the 1838 sale. [49] There was periodic and sometimes extensive coverage of both the sale and the Jesuits' slave ownership in various literature. Others, including two of Corneliuss uncles, ran away before they could be captured. 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). [15] Alice Clifton (c. 1772-unknown), as an enslaved teenager, she was a defendant in an infanticide trial in 1787. What remains is what is owed to the descendants. Login to post. [7] In 1830, the new Superior General, Jan Roothaan, returned Kenney to the United States, specifically to address the question of whether the Jesuits should divest themselves of their rural plantations altogether, which by this time had almost completely paid down their debt. Mr. Cellini is an unlikely racial crusader. We ask readers to log in so that we can recognize you as a registered user and give you unrestricted access to our website. 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. There are no surviving images of Cornelius, no letters or journals that offer a look into his last hours on a Jesuit plantation in Maryland. 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. 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. The records describe runaways, harsh plantation conditions and the anguish voiced by some Jesuits over their participation in a system of forced servitude. Today the Society of Jesus, who helped to establish Georgetown University and whose leaders enslaved and mercilessly sold your ancestors, stands before you to say that we have greatly sinned, said Rev. The college relied on Jesuit plantations in Maryland to help finance its operations, university officials say. Against the conditions agreed upon, families were separated due to this sale. Some of that money helped to pay off the debts of the struggling college. 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. 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. 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. To see the posts, click here. Thomas F. Mulledy and the Rev. 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. When you register, youll get unlimited access to our website and a free subscription to our email newsletter for daily updates with a smart, Catholic take on faith and culture from. 272 Slaves Were Sold to Save Georgetown. What Does It Owe Their Revealed: The Slave Sold to Save Georgetown John DeGioia, President, Georgetown University. Continue to scroll for fascinating Videos and Books to enhance your learning experience. William McSherry, the college presidents involved in the sale, from two campus buildings. 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. As early as the 1780s, Dr. Rothman found, they openly discussed the need to cull their stock of human. It is necessary to keep in mind that these people were free in their native country and enslaved once they got to America. Although the working group was established in August, it was student demonstrations at Georgetown in the fall that helped to galvanize alumni and gave new urgency to the administrations efforts. We have committed to finding ways that members of the Georgetown and Descendant communities can be engaged together in efforts that advance racial justice and enable every member of our Georgetown community to confront and engage with Georgetowns history with slavery.. [9] The main crops grown were tobacco and corn. [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. Ms. Crump is a familiar figure in Baton Rouge. 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. 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. From these estates, the Jesuits traveled the countryside on horseback, administering the sacraments and catechizing the Catholic laity. Peter Havermans wrote of an elderly woman who fell to her knees, begging to know what she had done to deserve such a fate, according to Robert Emmett Curran, a retired Georgetown historian who described eyewitness accounts of the sale in his research. ALL OF THE PEOPLE LISTED ON THIS PAGE HAVE PROFILES. Unknown because that portion of history is so like anything that reflects on the horrors of slavery preempted from our history. (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. [12], One of the Maryland Jesuits' institutions, Georgetown College (later known as Georgetown University), also rented slaves. 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. Census of slaves to be sold in 1838 This is the original list of slaves from the Jesuit plantations compiled in preparation for the sale in 1838. [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. Jesuits commit $100 million to the descendants of people the - CNN Focus Areas - Georgetown University