list of slaves sold by georgetown university

[34] During the controversy, Mulledy fell into alcoholism. While the school did own a small number of slaves over its early decades,[13] its main relationship with slavery was the leasing of slaves to work on campus,[14] a practice that continued past the 1838 slave sale. She still wants to know more about Corneliuss beginnings, and about his life as a free man. But the popes order, which did not explicitly address slave ownership or private sales like the one organized by the Jesuits, offered scant comfort to Cornelius and the other slaves. Jesse Batey died in 1851 and the White Oak Plantation was sold. [24], Mulledy quickly made arrangements to carry out the sale. 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 [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. The students organized a protest and a sit-in, using the hashtag #GU272 for the slaves who were sold. These posts focus on the reality of Black life in America after the Civil War culminating in the landmark Brown v Board of Education that changed so many of the earlier practices. And the 1838 sale worth about $3.3 million in todays dollars was organized by two of Georgetowns early presidents, both Jesuit priests. 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. Some wrote emotional letters to Roothaan denouncing the morality of the sale. Alfred Francis Russell (1817-1884), 10th President of Liberia. (Slaves were often donated by prosperous parishioners.) 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. Having descendant voices present alongside historical documents is an essential part of the GU272 narrative, said Claire Vail, the projects director for American Ancestors, in an announcement about the website. James Van de Veldes. 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. There is no indication that he received any response. Slaves worked on the Jesuit plantations in Maryland that helped to sustain the Jesuits' religious and educational mission. [24] When he returned in November to gather the rest of the slaves, the plantation managers had their slaves flee and hide. Shoes and clothing were made in the North and shipped to be used by the enslaved people. [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. Their panic and desperation would be mostly forgotten for more than a century. The sale of 272 slaves in 1838 rescued the College from crushing debt. But when Ms. Riffel, the genealogist, told her where she thought he was buried, Ms. Crump knew exactly where to go. He demanded that Mulledy travel to Rome to answer the charges of disobeying orders and promoting scandal. But six years after he appeared in the census, and about three decades after the birth of his first child, he renewed his wedding vows with the blessing of a priest. Georgetown University in Washington, seen from across the Potomac River. As early as the 1780s, Dr. Rothman found, they openly discussed the need to cull their stock of human beings. GU272 descendent Carolyn Smith gestures toward gravestones of descendants of enslaved people in Houma, La. 272 Slaves Were Sold to Save Georgetown. The U.S. Department of State defines modern slavery as "the act of recruiting, harboring, transporting, providing, or obtaining a person for compelled . 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. To see the full listing of posts, click on our Blog list, For Black History Month 2020, we posted daily. A notation on the second page indicates that it was discovered by Fr. 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. Other industries made loads of money indirectly. Freedom Hall became Isaac Hawkins Hall, after the first slave listed on the articles of agreement for the 1838 sale. CNN In 1838, the Jesuits who ran Georgetown University sold 272 enslaved people to pay off the university's debts. You are here: blueberry crumble cake delicious magazine; hendersonville nc city council candidates 2021; list of slaves sold by georgetown university . We shop for the best values for you. At Georgetown, slavery and scholarship were inextricably linked. In the list are links to affiliate partners. 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. One building is now named in honor of a slave who was 65 years old when he was sold in 1838. It was his Catholicism, born on the Jesuit plantations of his childhood, that would provide researchers with a road map to his descendants. [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. [17], Mulledy and McSherry became increasingly vocal in their opposition to Jesuit slave ownership. Some children were sold without their parents, records show, and slaves were dragged off by force to the ship, the Rev. In all, the Jesuits sold 314 men, women and children over . (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. 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. We also hope to work with you on additional opportunities for engaging with those who many not be able to attend in-person gatherings. [31][b] There are several reasons many slaves were left behind. In addition to the summary above, it is our intent to provide you with a more detailed look at the matter by providing videos and books that allow a deeper view. The Society of Jesus, whose members are known as Jesuits, established its first presence in the Mid-Atlantic region of the Thirteen Colonies alongside the first settlers of the British Province of Maryland, which had been founded as a Catholic colony and refuge. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/17/us/georgetown-university-search-for-slave-descendants.html. But the revelations about her lineage and the church she grew up in have unleashed a swirl of emotions. [37] Roothaan was particularly concerned because it had become clear that, contrary to his order, families had been separated by the slaves' new owners. It is interesting that the date was June 19th as many years later, it was on what is now recognized as Juneteenth. people, women and others in the Catholic Church, Cardinal Cupich: Critics of Pope Francis Latin Mass restrictions should listen to JPII. So Judy Riffel, one of the genealogists hired by Mr. Cellini, began following a chain of weddings and births, baptisms and burials. Books and Textbooks One of the greatest ways to advance your life choices and future. 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 articles of agreement listed each of the slaves by name to be sold. 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. It is necessary to keep in mind that these people were free in their native country and enslaved once they got to America. if you are trying to comment, you must log in or set up a new account. Georgetown is not the only institution that has prospered on the backs of enslaved people. (Courtesy of Ellender Library) In 1838, two priests who served as president of Georgetown University orchestrated the sale of 272 people to pay off debts at the school. Acknowledging the changing realities and increasing demands placed on contemporary postsecondary education, this book meets educators where they are and offers an effective design framework for what it means to move beyond equity being a buzzword in higher education. The site includes a searchable database with genealogies of descendants who have died. . Wondering why we ask for your email, or having trouble registering. 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. But priests at the Jesuit plantations recounted the panic and fear they witnessed when the slaves departed. 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. [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. 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. In November, the university agreed to remove the names of the Rev. She runs a nonprofit, Dialogue on Race Louisiana, that offers educational programs on institutional racism and ways to combat it. Its hard to know what could possibly reconcile a history like this, he said. 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. In total, there are 167 countries that still have slavery and around 46 million slaves today, according to the 2016 Global Slavery Index.. It also notes slaves who had run away, and those who had been "married off." In the uproar that followed, he was called to Rome and reassigned. The 1970s saw an increase in public scholarship on the Maryland Jesuits' slave ownership. We pray with you today because we have greatly sinned and because we are profoundly sorry.. What remains is what is owed to the descendants. [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. Only 206 of the 272 slaves were actually delivered because the Jesuits permitted the elderly and those with spouses living nearby and not owned by Jesuits to remain in Maryland. 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. 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 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. Georgetown has renamed one of its buildings Isaac Hawkins Hall named after the first enslaved on the list of the account of the sale. Thomas Lilly reported. (The two men would swap positions by 1838.). Father Mulledy promised his superiors that the slaves would continue to practice their religion. 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. Key then transferred this property to John R. Thompson. Thomas F. Mulledy and the Rev. 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 grave of Cornelius Hawkins, one of 272 slaves sold by the Jesuits in 1838 to help keep what is now Georgetown University afloat. 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. The remainder of the slaves were accounted for in three subsequent bills of sale executed in November 1838, which specified that 64 would go to Batey's plantation named West Oak in Iberville Parish and 140 slaves would be sent to Johnson's two plantations, Ascension Plantation (later known as Chatham Plantation) in Ascension Parish and another in Maringouin (Iberville Parish). In 1870, he appeared in the census for the first time. Georgetown Slavery Archive Date 1838 Contributor Adam Rothman Relation GSA63 Format PDF Language English Type Text Identifier GSA5 Text Item Type Metadata Original Format Spreadsheet Files Collection Sale of Maryland Jesuit's enslaved community to Louisiana in 1838 Tags Families, Plantations, Slaves Citation 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. By the 1840s, word was trickling back to Washington that the slaves new owners had broken their promises. He listened . Upon receipt of these 51, Johnson and Batey were to pay the first $25,000. 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. [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. It would not survive, Father Mulledy feared, without an influx of cash. 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: None of those conditions were met, university officials said. This coincided with a protest by a group of students against keeping Mulledy's and McSherry's names on the buildings the day before. The Jesuits ultimately received payment many years late and never received the full $115,000. But he said he could not stop thinking about the slaves, whose names had been in Georgetowns archives for decades. 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. [70], In 2019, undergraduate students at Georgetown voted in a non-binding referendum to impose a symbolic reparations fee of $27.20 per student. [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. Now comes the task of making amends. June 1838 the University benefited from the sale of 272 slaves, some as young as 2 months old to finance the ailing institution. 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. ALL OF THE PEOPLE LISTED ON THIS PAGE HAVE PROFILES. Were sorry registration isn't working smoothly for you. Are You A Liturgist With A Passion to Form Young Adults? 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. [26] Johnson and Batey were to be held jointly and severally liable and each additionally identified a responsible party as a guarantor. Slaves were collateral and could be used to mortgage land and other goods. As part of Georgetown University's Slavery, Memory, and Reconciliation initiative, students in Professor Adam Rothman's fall 2019 UNXD 272 class researched buildings and sites on Georgetown's campus to provide historical context for understanding their significance. Eventually, Roothaan removed Thomas Mulledy as provincial superior for disobeying orders and promoting scandal, exiling him to Nice for several years. [48] It is one of the most well-documented slave sales of its era. He was valued at $900. 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. Your email address will not be published. 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. [137] Thomas C. Hindman (1828-1868), American politician and Confederate general. -- Georgetown University has announced that descendants of 272 slaves, from whose sale the school profited in 1838, will receive "an advantage in the admissions process" as part of a larger . [2] As the sole ministers of Catholicism in Maryland at the time, the Jesuit estates became the centers of Catholicism. Why am I being asked to create an account? The college relied on Jesuit plantations in Maryland to help finance its operations, university officials say. [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. Central concepts and key points are illustrated through campus examples. The children with Mr.. They change every day, so check often. The date when the last slaves were freed in Texas 18 months after they had officially freed at the end of the Civil War. [4] Many of these slaves were gifted to the Jesuits, while others were purchased. Leave a message for others who see this profile. On that same day, the university rededicated two buildings previously named for former university presidents who were priests and supporters of the slave trade. Georgetown is not the first or only university to own slaves. She listened, stunned, as he told her about her great-great-grandfather, Cornelius Hawkins, who had labored on a plantation just a few miles from where she grew up. (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. [24], Johnson was unable to pay according to the schedule of the agreement. The enslaved African-Americans had belonged to the nations most prominent Jesuit priests. History has attempted to take the sting out of it which is impossible. Although modern slavery is not always easy to recognize, it continues to exist in nearly every country. To pay that debt, the university sold 272 slaves the very people that helped build the school itself. He might have disappeared from view again for a time, save for something few could have counted on: his deep, abiding faith. Inspiring Stories of Black History and Achievement, 272 Slaves Sold to Finance Georgetown University. Thomas F. Mulledy, president of Georgetown from 1829 to 1838, and again from 1845 to 1848, arranged the sale. [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. 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. 2008 - 2023 INTERESTING.COM, INC. 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. He addressed his concerns to Father Mulledy, who three years earlier had returned to his post as president of Georgetown. Georgetown is not the first or only university to own slaves. With time, Georgetown professors, students and alumni are taking a look at this portion and tracking the people sold to finance the institution. 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). [36], Soon after the sale, Roothaan decided that Mulledy should be removed as provincial superior. What can you do to make amends?. But few were lucky enough to escape. Ms. Crump is a familiar figure in Baton Rouge. Three Jesuits traveled aboard The Ark and The Dove on Lord Baltimore's voyage to settle Maryland in 1634. [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. Login to post. Many have been located; however, it is difficult to determine exactly how many were exploited by the University in this financial transaction. [49] There was periodic and sometimes extensive coverage of both the sale and the Jesuits' slave ownership in various literature. The worn gravestone had toppled, but the wording was plain: Neely Hawkins Died April 16, 1902.. In April 2017, Georgetown renamed buildings that had honored university leaders responsible for selling those enslaved Africans to Louisiana plantations. [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. 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.. 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. They recognize that despite their principals, they recognized the theft of labor, the destruction of families and the long term devastation that this inflicted on an entire race of people. The students organized a protest and a sit-in, using the hashtag #GU272 for the slaves who were sold. 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. In all, the Jesuits sold 314 men, women and children over a 5-year period stretching from 1838 to 1843. [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. The name had been passed down from generation to generation in her family. Now shes working for justice. It would be better to suffer financial disaster than suffer the loss of our souls with the sale of the slaves, wrote the Rev. 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. [37] As censure for the scandal,[39] Roothaan ordered Mulledy to remain in Europe,[35] and Mulledy lived in exile in Nice until 1843. Continue to scroll for fascinating Videos and Books to enhance your learning experience. [70], The Corporation of Roman Catholic Clergymen was created in 1792 to preserve the property of the. 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. History must be faced in order to heal and move forward! 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. Mismanaged and inefficient, the Maryland plantations no longer offered a reliable source of income for Georgetown College, which had been founded in 1789. 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.. 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? [12], One of the Maryland Jesuits' institutions, Georgetown College (later known as Georgetown University), also rented slaves. Others, including two of Corneliuss uncles, ran away before they could be captured. While it would seem as if there would be some mention of this in history, it remained largely unknown. Your source for jobs, books, retreats, and much more. It is also emblematic of the complex entanglement of American higher education and religious institutions with slavery. He was about 48 then, a father, a husband, a farm laborer and, finally, a free man. Timothy Kesicki, S.J., president of the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States, during a morning Liturgy of Remembrance, Contrition, and Hope. (Best for messages specifically directed to those editing this profile. Jesuit Father Hans Zollner will be a consultant for the Diocese of Romes office dedicated to safeguarding minors and vulnerable people. [32] An unknown number of slaves may also have run away and escaped transportation. This has made people reluctant to see the past and this has had a long term harm by remaining hidden and allowed to fester. Jesuit priests in Maryland sold 272 slaves to Louisiana plantations in 1838 to fund Georgetown . We can't do it without youAmerica Media relies on generous support from our readers. 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. [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. Tweet. Isaac Hawkins was the first enslaved person listed in the 1838 sale document. 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. 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. Slaves and the products they produced were responsible for well over 50% of the entire GNP of the United States. William McSherry, the college presidents involved in the sale, from two campus buildings. [51] Other historians covered the subject in literature published between the 1980s and 2000s. He was allowed to continue paying well beyond the ten years initially allowed, and continued to do so until just before the Emancipation Proclamation in 1862, during the Civil War. However, the history of the sale and the Jesuits' slave ownership was never secret. [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.

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