list of slaves sold by georgetown university
Some slaves suffered at the hands of a cruel overseer. In the case of Amazon, please use our links whenever you shop. Dr. Rothman, the Georgetown historian, heard about Mr. Cellinis efforts and let him know that he and several of his students were also tracing the slaves. Freedom Hall became Isaac Hawkins Hall, after the first slave listed on the articles of agreement for the 1838 sale. Central concepts and key points are illustrated through campus examples. . He was valued at $900. Other industries made loads of money indirectly. [37] As censure for the scandal,[39] Roothaan ordered Mulledy to remain in Europe,[35] and Mulledy lived in exile in Nice until 1843. [50], The 1838 slave sale returned to the public's awareness in the mid-2010s. In all, the Jesuits sold 314 men, women and children over a 5-year period stretching from 1838 to 1843. [42], Before the abolition of slavery in the United States in 1865, many slaves sold by the Jesuits changed ownership several times. [35][34] Benedict Fenwick, the Bishop of Boston, privately lamented the fate of the slaves and considered the sale an extreme measure. Meanwhile, Georgetowns working group has been weighing whether the university should apologize for profiting from slave labor, create a memorial to those enslaved and provide scholarships for their descendants, among other possibilities, said Dr. Rothman, the historian. They were heading to the only Catholic cemetery in Maringouin. Please visit ourmembership pageto learn how you can invest in our work by subscribing to the magazine or making a donation. [15] Alice Clifton (c. 1772-unknown), as an enslaved teenager, she was a defendant in an infanticide trial in 1787. Georgetown University in Washington, seen from across the Potomac River. We also posted a 5 part mini-series on the 100th anniversary of one of the most horrific massacres in the history of America. With time, Georgetown professors, students and alumni are taking a look at this portion and tracking the people sold to finance the institution. Share with your friends! 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. In 1838, the Jesuit priests who ran the countrys top Catholic university needed money to keep it alive. [36], Soon after the sale, Roothaan decided that Mulledy should be removed as provincial superior. 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. A Jesuit reports on the slaves' religious life in Louisiana, 1848, Chatham Plantation, Ascension Parish, Louisiana. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. This is the original list of slaves from the Jesuit plantations compiled in preparation for the sale in 1838. [27], The articles of agreement listed each of the slaves being sold by name. 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. [34] In the years after the sale, it also became clear that most of the slaves were not permitted to carry on their Catholic faith because they were living on plantations far removed from any Catholic church or priest. We receive a small royalty without cost to you. Thomas F. Mulledy, president of Georgetown from 1829 to 1838, and again from 1845 to 1848, arranged the sale. Tweet. His children and grandchildren also embraced the Catholic church. 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. Several substitutions were made to the initial list of those to be sold, and 91 of those initially listed remained in Maryland. [4][a] Several of the Jesuits' slaves unsuccessfully attempted to sue for their freedom in the courts in the 1790s. The sale prompted immediate outcry from fellow Jesuits. 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. 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. Share. 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. Georgetown is not the first or only university to own slaves. 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. This resulted in families being split for economic reasons with no consideration of human relationships. Are You A Liturgist With A Passion to Form Young Adults? 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. Jesse Batey died in 1851 and the White Oak Plantation was sold. The sale of 272 slaves in 1838 rescued the College from crushing debt. One building is now named in honor of a slave who was 65 years old when he was sold in 1838. Ms. Crump, a retired television news anchor, was driving to Maringouin, her hometown, in early February when her cellphone rang. people, women and others in the Catholic Church, Cardinal Cupich: Critics of Pope Francis Latin Mass restrictions should listen to JPII. Why am I being asked to create an account? document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Join Amazon Prime Watch Thousands of Movies & TV Shows Anytime. In fact, Harvard, Columbia, Brown, University of Virginia did as well. Ms. Crump, 69, has been asking herself that question, too. As a frequent reader of our website, you know how important Americas voice is in the conversation about the church and the world. The next year, Pope Gregory XVI explicitly barred Catholics from engaging in this traffic in Blacks no matter what pretext or excuse.. Georgetown University Archives The Jesuits had sold off individual slaves before. 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. Its hard to know what could possibly reconcile a history like this, he said. They change every day, so check often. ", New England Historic Genealogical Society, "They thought Georgetown University's missing slaves were 'lost.' [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. 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. The presidents of Harvard University and Georgetown University discuss their institutions historic ties to slavery in a conversation with Ta-Nehisi Coates. James Van de Veldes. (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 . James Van de Velde, a Jesuit who visited Louisiana, wrote in a letter in 1848. A photo of the slave cabins at Laurel Valley in Thibodaux is part of the GU272 Memory Project. She later joined the Oblate Sisters of Providence, recognized as the oldest active Roman Catholic sisterhood in the Americas established by women of African descent. Inspiring Stories of Black History and Achievement, 272 Slaves Sold to Finance Georgetown University. He listened . As part of an ongoing consideration to this atrocity Georgetown is seeking to rectify their prior actions and, in a speech delivered to descendants of the identified descendants delivered this message: 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. Thomas Lilly reported. Now, for the first time, Ms. Crump understood its origins. [56][62] In 2016, The New York Times published an article that brought the history of the Jesuits' and university's relationship with slavery to national attention. [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. IMPORTANT PRIVACY NOTICE & DISCLAIMER: YOU HAVE A RESPONSIBILITY TO USE CAUTION WHEN DISTRIBUTING PRIVATE INFORMATION. She was the citys first black woman television anchor. 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. 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. [32] An unknown number of slaves may also have run away and escaped transportation. You are here: blueberry crumble cake delicious magazine; hendersonville nc city council candidates 2021; list of slaves sold by georgetown university . [4] Many of these slaves were gifted to the Jesuits, while others were purchased. [5] In October of that year, Mulledy succeeded McSherry, who was dying, as provincial superior. [46] Due to financial difficulties, Johnson sold half his property, including some of the slaves he had purchased in 1838, to Philip Barton Key in 1844. [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. Through the project, genealogists have discovered 8,425 descendants of enslaved people sold in 1838. Login to post. [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. 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. 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. WIKITREE PROTECTS MOST SENSITIVE INFORMATION BUT ONLY TO THE EXTENT STATED IN THE TERMS OF SERVICE AND PRIVACY POLICY. The records describe runaways, harsh plantation conditions and the anguish voiced by some Jesuits over their participation in a system of forced servitude. Georgetown has renamed one of its buildings Isaac Hawkins Hall named after the first enslaved on the list of the account of the sale. [47], While the 1838 slave sale gave rise to scandal at the time, the event eventually faded out of the public awareness. Ta-Nehisi Coates, National Correspondent, The Atlantic Recorded Thursday, September 29, 2016, at the Washington Ideas Forum. (Valuable Plantation and Negroes for Sale, read one newspaper advertisement in 1852.). [52] In 2014, renovation began on Ryan and Mulledy Halls to convert them into a student residence. Mismanaged and inefficient, the Maryland plantations no longer offered a reliable source of income for Georgetown College, which had been founded in 1789. [41] The Jesuits never received the total $115,000 that was owed under the agreement. 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. Thomas R. Murphy, a historian at Seattle University who has written a book about the Jesuits and slavery. Georgetown is not the only institution that has prospered on the backs of enslaved people. A Reflection for Saturday of the First Week of Lent, by Christopher Parker. 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. [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 hope was to eventually identify the slaves descendants. this helps us promote a safe and accountable online community, and allows us to update you when other commenters reply to your posts. That man, Thomas Mulledy, then the president of Georgetown University, had sold 272 slaves to pay off a massive debt strangling the university. African-Americans are often a fleeting presence in the documents of the 1800s. The grave of Cornelius Hawkins, one of 272 slaves sold by the Jesuits in 1838 to help keep what is now Georgetown University afloat. 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). [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. The slaves were also identified as collateral in the event that Johnson, Batey, and their guarantors defaulted on their payments. There is joy in that, she said, exhilaration even. In the uproar that followed, he was called to Rome and reassigned. 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. 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.. 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 $2.96 million in 2021). A white man, he admitted that he had never spent much time thinking about slavery or African-American history. 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. It would not survive, Father Mulledy feared, without an influx of cash. Against the conditions agreed upon, families were separated due to this sale. Copyright 2023 America Press Inc. | All Rights Reserved. Descendants are learning new links to their pasts as a result of the project. As Black Americans as descendants of enslaved people we have always been told youll never know who you are. An inspector scrutinized the cargo on Dec. 6, 1838. Continue scrolling down for more amazing information, videos, books and value items. Please contact us at members@americamedia.org with any questions. Leaders in policy, business, technology, science, history, arts and culture engaged with top journalists on the most consequential issues of our time. 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. At Georgetown, slavery and scholarship were inextricably linked. Participants in this discussion are: Drew Gilpin Faust, President, Harvard University. Isaac Hawkins was the first enslaved person listed in the 1838 sale document. 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? 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 also established schools on their lands. 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. if you are trying to comment, you must log in or set up a new account. [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. CNN In 1838, the Jesuits who ran Georgetown University sold 272 enslaved people to pay off the university's debts. What remains is what is owed to the descendants. To see information on Juneteenth, click here. Close to half of them remain alive. From the 2016 Washington Ideas Forum. [40] The remaining $17,000, equivalent to approximately $440,000 in 2021,[25] was used to offset part of Georgetown College's $30,000 of debt that had accrued during the construction of buildings during Mulledy's prior presidency of the college. Colleges and universities have placed greater emphasis on education equity in recent years. A fantastic research tool with video camera, navigation programs and so much more. The Jesuits ultimately received payment many years late and never received the full $115,000. All of this was new to Ms. Crump, except for the name Cornelius or Neely, as Cornelius was known. A notation on the second page indicates that it was discovered by Fr. Father Mulledy promised his superiors that the slaves would continue to practice their religion. Key then transferred this property to John R. Thompson. 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. 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 Father Van de Velde begged Jesuit leaders to send money for the construction of a church that would provide for the salvation of those poor people, who are now utterly neglected.. Your email address will not be published. [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. 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. Cardinal McElroy responds to his critics on sexual sin, the Eucharist, and LGBT and divorced/remarried Catholics, Worried you retired too early? In the list are links to affiliate partners. [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. 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. (Best for messages specifically directed to those editing this profile. The date when the last slaves were freed in Texas 18 months after they had officially freed at the end of the Civil War. [29] Some of the initial 272 slaves who were not delivered to Johnson were replaced with substitutes. But when Ms. Riffel, the genealogist, told her where she thought he was buried, Ms. Crump knew exactly where to go. If you login and register your print subscription number with your account, youll have unlimited access to the website. 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. [8] These consisted primarily of the plantations of White Marsh in Prince George's County, St. Inigoes and Newtown Manor in St. Mary's County, St. Thomas Manor in Charles County, and Bohemia Manor in Cecil County. The sale of these 272 slaves, known as the GU272, saved the university from foreclosure. [38] While McSherry initially persuaded Roothaan to forgo removing Mulledy,[37] in August 1839, Roothaan resolved that Mulledy must be removed to quell the ongoing scandal. 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. Dubuisson described how the public reputation of the Jesuits in Washington and Virginia declined as a result of the sale. The New York Times would like to hear from people who have done research into their genealogical history. Wondering why we ask for your email, or having trouble registering. While it would seem as if there would be some mention of this in history, it remained largely unknown. Much more than a way to chat. Jesuit priests in Maryland sold 272 slaves to Louisiana plantations in 1838 to fund Georgetown . [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. Many of them baptized Catholic, they were bought by planters to work. Advertisement In Bayonne-Johnson's hands,. [3], Much of this land was put to use as plantations, the revenue from which financed the Jesuits' ministries. Georgetown and the College of the Holy Cross renamed buildings, and the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States pledged to raise $100 million for the descendants of slaves owned by the Jesuits. 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. 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. Another building has been renamed Anne Marie Becraft Hall in honor of a free Black woman who established a school in the town of Georgetown for Girls of color. But the decision to sell virtually all of their enslaved African-Americans in the 1830s left some priests deeply troubled. 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. To see the posts, click here. In November, the university agreed to remove the names of the Rev. [7] As early as 1814, the trustees of the Corporation of Roman Catholic Clergymen discussed manumitting all their slaves and abolishing slavery on the Jesuit plantations,[10] though in 1820, they decided against universal manumission. 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. [24] When he returned in November to gather the rest of the slaves, the plantation managers had their slaves flee and hide. In 2019, 66 percent of Georgetown students voted in a referendum to add a $27.20 student fee to be. Hundreds of Blacks were slaughtered and 10,000 left homeless in this largely unknown event. In addition to becoming physically dilapidated, all but one of the plantations had fallen into debt. The church records helped lead to a 69-year-old woman in Baton Rouge named Maxine Crump. And she would like to see Corneliuss name, and those of his parents and children, inscribed on a memorial on campus. Three Jesuits traveled aboard The Ark and The Dove on Lord Baltimore's voyage to settle Maryland in 1634. New England ship builders made ships to bring people to this country. The notation betrayed no hint of the turmoil on board. However, the remainder of the money received did go to funding Jesuit formation. By the 1840s, word was trickling back to Washington that the slaves new owners had broken their promises. 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. Georgetown is not the first or only university to own slaves. 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. Slaves were collateral and could be used to mortgage land and other goods. John DeGioia, President, Georgetown University. WASHINGTON The human cargo was loaded on ships at a bustling wharf in the nations capital, destined for the plantations of the Deep South. [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. We pray with you today because we have greatly sinned and because we are profoundly sorry. This message was delivered to more than 100 descendants of the original enslaved people who had been sol to finance the institution. William McSherry, the college presidents involved in the sale, from two campus buildings. As early as the 1780s, Dr. Rothman found, they openly discussed the need to cull their stock of human. To see the full listing of posts, click on our Blog list, For Black History Month 2020, we posted daily. In April 2017, Georgetown renamed buildings that had honored university leaders responsible for selling those enslaved Africans to Louisiana plantations. The condition of slaves on the plantations varied over time, as did the condition of the Jesuits living with them. For Black History Month 2021, we focused on Black Medical Achievements, Inventors and Scientists.To see those posts, click here. Thomas F. Mulledy and the Rev. 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. [29], Not all of the 272 slaves intended to be sold to Louisiana met that fate. The site includes a searchable database with genealogies of descendants who have died. Ms. Crump is a familiar figure in Baton Rouge. It is better to prevent than to attempt to remedy. 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.
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