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. (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. You can either click on the link in your confirmation email or simply re-enter your email address below to confirm it. 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. At the time, the Catholic Church did not view slaveholding as immoral, said the Rev. His children and grandchildren also embraced the Catholic church. An alumnus, following the protest from afar, wondered if more needed to be done. 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. 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). Continue scrolling down for more amazing information, videos, books and value items. New England ship builders made ships to bring people to this country. We also posted a 5 part mini-series on the 100th anniversary of one of the most horrific massacres in the history of America. What Does It Owe Their Descendants? Continue to scroll for fascinating Videos and Books to enhance your learning experience. We ask readers to log in so that we can recognize you as a registered user and give you unrestricted access to our website. -- 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 . [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. He might have disappeared from view again for a time, save for something few could have counted on: his deep, abiding faith. 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. Father Mulledy promised his superiors that the slaves would continue to practice their religion. Now students, professors and alumni want to know what happened to those men and women and what the university will do moving forward. [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. From these estates, the Jesuits traveled the countryside on horseback, administering the sacraments and catechizing the Catholic laity. Ms. Crump is a familiar figure in Baton Rouge. 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. 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. Other industries made loads of money indirectly. 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. But the 1838 slave sale organized by the Jesuits, who founded and ran Georgetown, stands out for its sheer size, historians say. Hundreds of Blacks were slaughtered and 10,000 left homeless in this largely unknown event. He was not yet five feet tall when he sailed onboard the Katharine Jackson, one of several vessels that carried the slaves to the port of New Orleans. We can't do it without youAmerica Media relies on generous support from our readers. The Jesuits decided that the elderly would not be sold south and instead would be permitted to remain in Maryland. [48] It is one of the most well-documented slave sales of its era. 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. Georgetown University Archives The Jesuits had sold off individual slaves before. [27] The agreement provided that 51 slaves would be sent to the port of Alexandria, Virginia in order to be shipped to Louisiana. After the Jesuits vacated the buildings, Ryan and Mulledy Halls lay vacant, while Gervase Hall was put to other use. [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. (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 . On Juneteenth, the debate comes to Congress. The worn gravestone had toppled, but the wording was plain: Neely Hawkins Died April 16, 1902.. Books and Textbooks One of the greatest ways to advance your life choices and future. The 1970s saw an increase in public scholarship on the Maryland Jesuits' slave ownership. Georgetown Jesuits enslaved her ancestors. In fact, Harvard, Columbia, Brown, University of Virginia did as well. 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. 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. This sale was the culmination of a contentious and long-running debate among the Maryland Jesuits over whether to keep, sell, or free their slaves, and whether to focus on their rural estates or on their growing urban missions, including their schools. Since youre a frequent reader of our website, we want to be able to share even more great, As a frequent reader of our website, you know how important, Georgetown students voted to pay for reparations. Within two weeks, Mr. Cellini had set up a nonprofit, the Georgetown Memory Project, hired eight genealogists and raised more than $10,000 from fellow alumni to finance their research. [43][44] In 1856, Washington Barrow sold the slaves he purchased from Batey to William Patrick and Joseph B. Woolfolk of Iberville Parish. 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. 2008 - 2023 INTERESTING.COM, INC. The enslaved were grandmothers and grandfathers, carpenters and blacksmiths, pregnant women and anxious fathers, children and infants, who were fearful, bewildered and despairing as they saw their families and communities ripped apart by the sale of 1838. There was no need for a map. Why am I being asked to create an account? [29], Not all of the 272 slaves intended to be sold to Louisiana met that fate. [3], Much of this land was put to use as plantations, the revenue from which financed the Jesuits' ministries. 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. We also hope to work with you on additional opportunities for engaging with those who many not be able to attend in-person gatherings. 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. There is joy in that, she said, exhilaration even. (Best for messages specifically directed to those editing this profile. The U.S. Department of State defines modern slavery as "the act of recruiting, harboring, transporting, providing, or obtaining a person for compelled . It would not survive, Father Mulledy feared, without an influx of cash. The plantation would be sold again and again and again, records show, but Corneliuss family remained intact. Georgetown University in Washington, seen from across the Potomac River. More than half were younger than 20, and nearly a third were not yet 10 years old. [66] In 2020, the college removed Mulledy's name. [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. 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. It soon became clear that Roothaan's conditions had not been fully met. But this was no ordinary slave sale. [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. 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. Ms. Crump, 69, has been asking herself that question, too. 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 slaves were also identified as collateral in the event that Johnson, Batey, and their guarantors defaulted on their payments. [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. Copyright 2023 America Press Inc. | All Rights Reserved. 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. The condition of slaves on the plantations varied over time, as did the condition of the Jesuits living with them. Many have been located; however, it is difficult to determine exactly how many were exploited by the University in this financial transaction. [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. In 2019, 66 percent of Georgetown students voted in a referendum to add a $27.20 student fee to be. [9] The main crops grown were tobacco and corn. this helps us promote a safe and accountable online community, and allows us to update you when other commenters reply to your posts. IMPORTANT PRIVACY NOTICE & DISCLAIMER: YOU HAVE A RESPONSIBILITY TO USE CAUTION WHEN DISTRIBUTING PRIVATE INFORMATION. The enslaved African-Americans had belonged to the nations most prominent Jesuit priests. Articles in the Woodstock Letters, an internal Jesuit publication that later became accessible to the public, routinely addressed both subjects during the course of its existence from 1872 to 1969. [36], Soon after the sale, Roothaan decided that Mulledy should be removed as provincial superior. Of the sum, $8,000 was used to satisfy a financial obligation that,[23] following a long-running and contentious dispute, Pope Pius VII had previously determined the Maryland Jesuits owed to Archbishop Ambrose Marchal of Baltimore and his successors. [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. He listened . [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. 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. The grave of Cornelius Hawkins, one of 272 slaves sold by the Jesuits in 1838 to help keep what is now Georgetown University afloat. [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. 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. But few were lucky enough to escape. 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). 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. To pay that debt, the university sold 272 slaves the very people that helped build the school itself. That building is now known as Freedom Hall. 51 slaves were to be sent to Alexandria, Virginia, then shipped to Louisiana. (Slaves were often donated by prosperous parishioners.) 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. 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. 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. She feels great sadness as she envisions Cornelius as a young boy, torn from everything he knew. [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. This resulted in families being split for economic reasons with no consideration of human relationships. Georgetown has renamed one of its buildings Isaac Hawkins Hall named after the first enslaved on the list of the account of the sale. Upon receipt of these 51, Johnson and Batey were to pay the first $25,000. Some wrote emotional letters to Roothaan denouncing the morality of the sale. Richard Cellini, the chief executive of a technology company and a Georgetown alumnus, hired eight genealogists to track down the slaves and their descendants. 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 source for jobs, books, retreats, and much more. Through the project, genealogists have discovered 8,425 descendants of enslaved people sold in 1838. For the eighth year, the Forum was hosted by The Atlantic in partnership with the Aspen Institute. We pray with you today because we have greatly sinned and because we are profoundly sorry.. It is better to prevent than to attempt to remedy. 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. It will challenge and change your understanding of what we were as Americans and of what we are. Chicago Tribune In this groundbreaking historical expos, Douglas A. Blackmon brings to light one of the most shameful chapters in American history an Age of Neo slavery that thrived from the aftermath of the Civil War through the dawn of World War II. Jesuit priests in Maryland sold 272 slaves to Louisiana plantations in 1838 to fund Georgetown . 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. [70], The Corporation of Roman Catholic Clergymen was created in 1792 to preserve the property of the. 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. Jesse Batey died in 1851 and the White Oak Plantation was sold. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/17/us/georgetown-university-search-for-slave-descendants.html. Some slaves pleaded for rosaries as they were rounded up, praying for deliverance. 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. 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 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. Shoes and clothing were made in the North and shipped to be used by the enslaved people. In the uproar that followed, he was called to Rome and reassigned. 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 Tweet. A white man, he admitted that he had never spent much time thinking about slavery or African-American history. [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. [47], While the 1838 slave sale gave rise to scandal at the time, the event eventually faded out of the public awareness. You can also manage your account details and your print subscription after logging in. [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. 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. 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. [15] Alice Clifton (c. 1772-unknown), as an enslaved teenager, she was a defendant in an infanticide trial in 1787. 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. History has attempted to take the sting out of it which is impossible. 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. [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. This indispensable guide presents academic administrators and staff with advice on building an equity-minded campus culture, aligning strategic priorities and institutional missions to advance equity, understanding equity-minded data analysis, developing campus strategies for making excellence inclusive, and moving from a first-generation equity educator to an equity-minded practitioner. The Jesuits had sold off individual slaves before. In 1838, the Jesuit priests who ran the countrys top Catholic university needed money to keep it alive. She prides herself on being unflappable. Start Free Trial Now Our membership program offers special benefits for just $99 per year: *Unlimited instant streaming of thousands of movies and TV shows, *FREE Two-Day Shipping on millions of items, *Unlimited, ad-free streaming of over a million songs and more Prime benefits, Join Amazon Prime Watch Thousands of Movies & TV Shows Anytime Start Free Trial Now. [4][a] Several of the Jesuits' slaves unsuccessfully attempted to sue for their freedom in the courts in the 1790s. [30] In total, only 206 are known to have been transported to Louisiana. Advertisement In Bayonne-Johnson's hands,. Leaders in policy, business, technology, science, history, arts and culture engaged with top journalists on the most consequential issues of our time. Are You A Liturgist With A Passion to Form Young Adults? William McSherry, the college presidents involved in the sale, from two campus buildings. 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. [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. [49] There was periodic and sometimes extensive coverage of both the sale and the Jesuits' slave ownership in various literature. The notation betrayed no hint of the turmoil on board. 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. Dubuisson described how the public reputation of the Jesuits in Washington and Virginia declined as a result of the sale. Mr. Cellini is an unlikely racial crusader. As a Georgetown employee, Jeremy Alexander watched as the university grappled with its haunted past: the sale of slaves in 1838 to help rescue it from financial ruin. James Van de Velde, a Jesuit who visited Louisiana, wrote in a letter in 1848. Close to half of them remain alive. The records describe runaways, harsh plantation conditions and the anguish voiced by some Jesuits over their participation in a system of forced servitude. At Georgetown, slavery and scholarship were inextricably linked.