Many of them baptized Catholic, they were bought by planters to work. Georgetown is not the only institution that has prospered on the backs of enslaved people. Georgetown and the Society of Jesus Maryland Province have issued an apology for their role in this action to more than 100 descendants who had been traced at the time of the apology. They worried that new owners might not allow the slaves to practice their Catholic faith. He was about 48 then, a father, a husband, a farm laborer and, finally, a free man. Many have been located; however, it is difficult to determine exactly how many were exploited by the University in this financial transaction. History must be faced in order to heal and move forward! The 1970s saw an increase in public scholarship on the Maryland Jesuits' slave ownership. Slaves were collateral and could be used to mortgage land and other goods. In all, the Jesuits sold 314 men, women and children over a 5-year period stretching from 1838 to 1843. [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. Now shes working for justice. 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. 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. Her ancestors, once amorphous and invisible, are finally taking shape in her mind. 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. Moreover, men and women held in bondage were also part of the day-to-day operation of Georgetown College in its early decades. 51 slaves were to be sent to Alexandria, Virginia, then shipped to Louisiana. If youre already a subscriber or donor, thank you! The two women drove on the narrow roads that line the green, rippling sugar cane fields in Iberville Parish. [5], On June 19, 1838, Mulledy, Johnson, and Batey signed articles of agreement formalizing the sale. ALL OF THE PEOPLE LISTED ON THIS PAGE HAVE PROFILES. Thomas F. Mulledy, president of Georgetown from 1829 to 1838, and again from 1845 to 1848, arranged the sale. [24] When he returned in November to gather the rest of the slaves, the plantation managers had their slaves flee and hide. History has attempted to take the sting out of it which is impossible. Copyright 2023 America Press Inc. | All Rights Reserved. He might have disappeared from view again for a time, save for something few could have counted on: his deep, abiding faith. This is the original list of slaves from the Jesuit plantations compiled in preparation for the sale in 1838. In the list are links to affiliate partners. Remembrance Hall became Anne Marie Becraft Hall, after a free black woman who founded a school for black girls in the Georgetown neighborhood and later joined the Oblate Sisters of Providence. [36], Soon after the sale, Roothaan decided that Mulledy should be removed as provincial superior. [65], On April 18, 2017, DeGioia, along with the provincial superior of the Maryland Province, and the president of the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States, held a liturgy in which they formally apologized on behalf of their respective institutions for their participation in slavery. Isaac Hawkins was the first enslaved person listed in the 1838 sale document. But priests at the Jesuit plantations recounted the panic and fear they witnessed when the slaves departed. That man, Thomas Mulledy, then the president of Georgetown University, had sold 272 slaves to pay off a massive debt strangling the university. 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. list of slaves sold by georgetown university. There is joy in that, she said, exhilaration even. To see information on Juneteenth, click here. Now, for the first time, Ms. Crump understood its origins. We ask our visitors to confirm their email to keep your account secure and make sure you're able to receive email from us. In total, there are 167 countries that still have slavery and around 46 million slaves today, according to the 2016 Global Slavery Index.. [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. June 1838 the University benefited from the sale of 272 slaves, some as young as 2 months old to finance the ailing institution. [51] Other historians covered the subject in literature published between the 1980s and 2000s. In the uproar that followed, he was called to Rome and reassigned. GSA28: William Gaston entrusts a slave named Augustus to Fr. The students organized a protest and a sit-in, using the hashtag #GU272 for the slaves who were sold. Three Jesuits traveled aboard The Ark and The Dove on Lord Baltimore's voyage to settle Maryland in 1634. The presidents of Harvard University and Georgetown University discuss their institutions historic ties to slavery in a conversation with Ta-Nehisi Coates. [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. Freedom Hall became Isaac Hawkins Hall, after the first slave listed on the articles of agreement for the 1838 sale. Through the project, genealogists have discovered 8,425 descendants of enslaved people sold in 1838. The date when the last slaves were freed in Texas 18 months after they had officially freed at the end of the Civil War. We see that slavery was MUCH more than depriving people of their liberty and theft of their services, it was the cruel and long lasting emotional devastation of selling away loved ones, taking indecent liberties, cruel and inhumane treatment and so much more. [28] Most of the slaves who fled returned to their plantations, and Mulledy made a third visit later that month, where he gathered some of the remaining slaves for transport. An alumnus, following the protest from afar, wondered if more needed to be done. A fantastic research tool with video camera, navigation programs and so much more. [41] The Jesuits never received the total $115,000 that was owed under the agreement. They found the last physical marker of Corneliuss journey at the Immaculate Heart of Mary cemetery, where Ms. Crumps father, grandmother and great-grandfather are also buried. More than half were younger than 20, and nearly a third were not yet 10 years old. In 1838, the Jesuit priests who ran the countrys top Catholic university needed money to keep it alive. Required fields are marked *. [4] Many of these slaves were gifted to the Jesuits, while others were purchased. Georgetown has renamed one of its buildings Isaac Hawkins Hall named after the first enslaved on the list of the account of the sale. [52] In 2014, renovation began on Ryan and Mulledy Halls to convert them into a student residence. The students organized a protest and a sit-in, using the hashtag #GU272 for the slaves who were sold. By the 1840s, word was trickling back to Washington that the slaves new owners had broken their promises. [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. Now students, professors and alumni want to know what happened to those men and women and what the university will do moving forward. 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. It was his Catholicism, born on the Jesuit plantations of his childhood, that would provide researchers with a road map to his descendants. But few were lucky enough to escape. The Jesuits ultimately received payment many years late and never received the full $115,000. Georgetown University Archives The Jesuits had sold off individual slaves before. Ashby's account book at Newtown.For a spreadsheet with all the data transcribed, seeGSA5. CONTENT MAY BE COPYRIGHTED BY WIKITREE COMMUNITY MEMBERS. [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. Why am I being asked to create an account? The sale however is the largest one acknowledged to date. [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. A Reflection for Friday of the First Week of Lent, by Jill Rice. 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. (Ms. Bayonne-Johnson discovered her connection through an earlier effort by the university to publish records online about the Jesuit plantations.). He listened . 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 New England ship builders made ships to bring people to this country. 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. Kenney found the slaves facing arbitrary discipline, a meager diet, pastoral neglect, and engaging in vice. Unknown because that portion of history is so like anything that reflects on the horrors of slavery preempted from our history. ", 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. 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. It is better to prevent than to attempt to remedy. The university itself owes its existence to this history, said Adam Rothman, a historian at Georgetown and a member of a university working group that is studying ways for the institution to acknowledge and try to make amends for its tangled roots in slavery. [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. Thomas Hibbert (1710-1780), English merchant, he became rich from slave labor on his Jamaican plantations. To comment or make suggestions on future posts, use Contact Us. On Juneteenth, the debate comes to Congress. 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. The ship manifest of the Katharine Jackson, available in full at the. The first payment on the remaining $90,000 would become due after five years. [2] As the sole ministers of Catholicism in Maryland at the time, the Jesuit estates became the centers of Catholicism. [70], The Corporation of Roman Catholic Clergymen was created in 1792 to preserve the property of the. His children and grandchildren also embraced the Catholic church. [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. Amazing! Password reset instructions will be sent to your registered email address. Colleges and universities have placed greater emphasis on education equity in recent years. Twenty-seven years earlier, a document dated June 19, 1838, showed that Maryland Jesuit priests sold 272 slaves to the owners of Louisiana plantations. Mr. Cellini is an unlikely racial crusader. this helps us promote a safe and accountable online community, and allows us to update you when other commenters reply to your posts. 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). Cardinal McElroy on radical inclusion for L.G.B.T. But the revelations about her lineage and the church she grew up in have unleashed a swirl of emotions. Shoes and clothing were made in the North and shipped to be used by the enslaved people. Alfred Francis Russell (1817-1884), 10th President of Liberia. But he said he could not stop thinking about the slaves, whose names had been in Georgetowns archives for decades. Georgetown was a prominent Jesuit priests. in Fr. 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. 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. The church records helped lead to a 69-year-old woman in Baton Rouge named Maxine Crump. 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.
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