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. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Join Amazon Prime Watch Thousands of Movies & TV Shows Anytime. The two women drove on the narrow roads that line the green, rippling sugar cane fields in Iberville Parish. [30] In total, only 206 are known to have been transported to Louisiana. (Ms. Bayonne-Johnson discovered her connection through an earlier effort by the university to publish records online about the Jesuit plantations.). 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. There is joy in that, she said, exhilaration even. 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. [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. Many institutions owned slaves and Georgetown University was no exception. You are here: blueberry crumble cake delicious magazine; hendersonville nc city council candidates 2021; list of slaves sold by georgetown university . if you are trying to comment, you must log in or set up a new account. What Does It Owe Their Descendants? [21], Meanwhile, in order to fund the province's operations,[22] McSherry, as the first provincial superior of the Maryland Province,[17] began selling small groups of slaves to planters in Louisiana in 1835, arguing that it was not possible to sell the slaves to local planters and that the buyers had assured him that they would not mistreat the slaves and would permit them to practice their Catholic faith. In the list are links to affiliate partners. Share. 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. [24], Johnson was unable to pay according to the schedule of the agreement. 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,[27] Ascension Plantation (later known as Chatham Plantation) in Ascension Parish and another in Maringouin in Iberville Parish. 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. [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. Cornelius had originally been shipped to a plantation so far from a church that he had married in a civil ceremony. We encourage you to share the site on social media. To this day the search continues. However, the total number of slaves is only one way to measure the level of slavery in a country. She is outraged that the churchs leaders sanctioned the buying and selling of slaves, and that Georgetown profited from the sale of her ancestors. A Reflection for Saturday of the First Week of Lent, by Christopher Parker. Check out some of the. It has been stated that value of slaves in America was more valuable than all the industrial and transportation capital of the United States in the first half of the 19th century. She runs a nonprofit, Dialogue on Race Louisiana, that offers educational programs on institutional racism and ways to combat it. 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. [48] It is one of the most well-documented slave sales of its era. 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. June 1838 the University benefited from the sale of 272 slaves, some as young as 2 months old to finance the ailing institution. To see the posts, click here. We shop for the best values for you. (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. Now shes working for justice. In addition to becoming physically dilapidated, all but one of the plantations had fallen into debt. The website is part of a collaboration between Boston-based American Ancestors, also called the New England Historic Genealogical Society, and the Georgetown Memory Project, which was founded by Georgetown alumnus Richard Cellini. But this was no ordinary slave sale. He was valued at $900. The New York Times would like to hear from people who have done research into their genealogical history. You can either click on the link in your confirmation email or simply re-enter your email address below to confirm it. The enslaved African-Americans had belonged to the nations most prominent Jesuit priests. Slaves were collateral and could be used to mortgage land and other goods. We ask our visitors to confirm their email to keep your account secure and make sure you're able to receive email from us. [15] Alice Clifton (c. 1772-unknown), as an enslaved teenager, she was a defendant in an infanticide trial in 1787. The ship manifest of the Katharine Jackson, available in full at the. None of those conditions were met, university officials said. The U.S. Department of State defines modern slavery as "the act of recruiting, harboring, transporting, providing, or obtaining a person for compelled . ", 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. Please contact us at members@americamedia.org with any questions. [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. Interview: Whats it like to photograph Pope Francis? 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 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. The plantation would be sold again and again and again, records show, but Corneliuss family remained intact. At the time, the Catholic Church did not view slaveholding as immoral, said the Rev. [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. [18] The province was sharply divided, with the American-born Jesuits supporting a sale and the missionary European Jesuits opposing on the basis that it was immoral both to sell their patrimonial lands and to materially and morally harm the slaves by selling them into the Deep South, where they did not want to go. 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. Other Jesuits voiced their anger to the Archbishop of Baltimore, Samuel Eccleston, who conveyed this to Roothaan. Advertisement In Bayonne-Johnson's hands,. 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. The sale prompted immediate outcry from fellow Jesuits. Consider the following list: Top 10 Countries with the Highest Prevalence of Modern Slavery (by slaves per 1000 residents) - Global Slavery Index 2018: North Korea - 104.6 (10.46%) Eritrea - 93 (9.3%) Burundi - 40 (4.0%) Central African Republic . 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. CNN In 1838, the Jesuits who ran Georgetown University sold 272 enslaved people to pay off the university's debts. Eventually, Roothaan removed Thomas Mulledy as provincial superior for disobeying orders and promoting scandal, exiling him to Nice for several years. Thomas F. Mulledy and the Rev. 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. She feels great sadness as she envisions Cornelius as a young boy, torn from everything he knew. The Jesuits had sold off individual slaves before. [41] The Jesuits never received the total $115,000 that was owed under the agreement. Her great-uncle had the name, as did one of her cousins. [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. It is necessary to keep in mind that these people were free in their native country and enslaved once they got to America. Joseph Zwinge (identified as "J.Z.") IMPORTANT PRIVACY NOTICE & DISCLAIMER: YOU HAVE A RESPONSIBILITY TO USE CAUTION WHEN DISTRIBUTING PRIVATE INFORMATION. William McSherry, the college presidents involved in the sale, from two campus buildings. [24] He located two Louisiana planters who were willing to purchase the slaves: Henry Johnson, a former United States Senator and governor of Louisiana, and Jesse Batey. The condition of slaves on the plantations varied over time, as did the condition of the Jesuits living with them. Upon receipt of these 51, Johnson and Batey were to pay the first $25,000. In fact, Harvard, Columbia, Brown, University of Virginia did as well. [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. An inspector scrutinized the cargo on Dec. 6, 1838. Michelle Miller reports. The Jesuits ultimately received payment many years late and never received the full $115,000. On that same day, the university rededicated two buildings previously named for former university presidents who were priests and supporters of the slave trade. The hope was to eventually identify the slaves descendants. Georgetown University announced on Tuesday it will create a fund that could generate close to $400,000 a year to benefit the descendants of slaves once sold by the university, the latest in the . [5] In October of that year, Mulledy succeeded McSherry, who was dying, as provincial superior. 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. In all, the Jesuits sold 314 men, women and children over a 5-year period stretching from 1838 to 1843. CONTENT MAY BE COPYRIGHTED BY WIKITREE COMMUNITY MEMBERS. In all, the Jesuits sold 314 men, women and children over . Share with your friends! Several substitutions were made to the initial list of those to be sold, and 91 of those initially listed remained in Maryland. To pay that debt, the university sold 272 slaves the very people that helped build the school itself. Copyright 2023 America Press Inc. | All Rights Reserved. Mr. Cellini, whose genealogists have already traced more than 200 of the slaves from Maryland to Louisiana, believes there may be thousands of living descendants. Many of them baptized Catholic, they were bought by planters to work. Alfred Francis Russell (1817-1884), 10th President of Liberia. 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. But the revelations about her lineage and the church she grew up in have unleashed a swirl of emotions. It is interesting that the date was June 19th as many years later, it was on what is now recognized as Juneteenth. Slaves worked on the Jesuit plantations in Maryland that helped to sustain the Jesuits' religious and educational mission. 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. Thomas F. Mulledy and the Rev. Melvin Robert and Joya Mia Italiano look into Georgetown Universitys response on the Lip News. 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. She was the citys first black woman television anchor. A Reflection for Friday of the First Week of Lent, by Jill Rice. She prides herself on being unflappable. During this time, the Jesuits funded some of the most prestigious institutions of higher education in America in part through profits earned on their plantations. [136] Eufrosina Hinard (born 1777), a free black woman in New Orleans, she owned slaves and leased them to others. More than half were younger than 20, and nearly a third were not yet 10 years old. Much more than a way to chat. New England ship builders made ships to bring people to this country. History must be faced in order to heal and move forward! But the 1838 slave sale organized by the Jesuits, who founded and ran Georgetown, stands out for its sheer size, historians say. As a result, he had to sell his property in the 1840s and renegotiate the terms of his payment. Soon, the two men and their teams were working on parallel tracks. This was only a portion of the slaves bought and sold by the Maryland Jesuits over time.[1]. Unknown because that portion of history is so like anything that reflects on the horrors of slavery preempted from our history. He demanded that Mulledy travel to Rome to answer the charges of disobeying orders and promoting scandal. [69] Several groups of descendants have been created, which have lobbied Georgetown University and the Society of Jesus for reparations, and groups have disagreed with the form that their desired reparations should take. ", New England Historic Genealogical Society, "They thought Georgetown University's missing slaves were 'lost.' Mr. Cellini was on the line. [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. The truth was closer to home than anyone knew", "272 Slaves Were Sold to Save Georgetown. One building is now named in honor of a slave who was 65 years old when he was sold in 1838. 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. Father Mulledy promised his superiors that the slaves would continue to practice their religion. [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. 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. Cardinal McElroy on radical inclusion for L.G.B.T. Leaders in policy, business, technology, science, history, arts and culture engaged with top journalists on the most consequential issues of our time. 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. Georgetown University in Washington, seen from across the Potomac River. 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. 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. This sale was overseen by Provincial Superior William McSherry and Friar Thomas Mulledy. 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. Twenty-seven years earlier, a document dated June 19, 1838, showed that Maryland Jesuit priests sold 272 slaves to the owners of Louisiana plantations. Please visit ourmembership pageto learn how you can invest in our work by subscribing to the magazine or making a donation. Cardinal McElroy responds to his critics on sexual sin, the Eucharist, and LGBT and divorced/remarried Catholics, Worried you retired too early? [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. But the decision to sell virtually all of their enslaved African-Americans in the 1830s left some priests deeply troubled. They also established schools on their lands. The article details how the sold slaves were transported to three Louisiana plantations, where they faced brutal treatment. The site includes a searchable database with genealogies of descendants who have died. (Valuable Plantation and Negroes for Sale, read one newspaper advertisement in 1852.). 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. She found out about the Jesuits and Georgetown and the sea voyage to Louisiana. Maryland Province Archives at Lauinger Library at Georgetown University, A passage from the Rev. [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. Hundreds of Blacks were slaughtered and 10,000 left homeless in this largely unknown event. 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. [42], Before the abolition of slavery in the United States in 1865, many slaves sold by the Jesuits changed ownership several times. 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. These are real people with real names and real descendants.. He addressed his concerns to Father Mulledy, who three years earlier had returned to his post as president of Georgetown. Corneliuss extended family was split, with his aunt Nelly and her daughters shipped to one plantation, and his uncle James and his wife and children sent to another, records show. [45] Patrick and Woolfolk's slaves were then sold in July 1859 to Emily Sparks, the widow of Austin Woolfolk. 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.. In November, the university agreed to remove the names of the Rev. The presidents of Harvard University and Georgetown University discuss their institutions historic ties to slavery in a conversation with Ta-Nehisi Coates. It also notes slaves who had run away, and those who had been "married off." By the 1830s, however, their physical and religious conditions had improved considerably. 2023 A Month of Tribute to 31 Women We Should All Know, Rosewood A Typical Race Riot in America. 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. [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. By the 1840s, word was trickling back to Washington that the slaves new owners had broken their promises. 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. [13], Beginning in 1800, there were instances of the Jesuit plantation managers freeing individual slaves or permitting slaves to purchase their freedom. [53], With work complete, in August 2015, university president John DeGioia sent an open letter to the university announcing the opening of the new student residence, which also related Mulledy's role in the 1838 slave sale after stepping down as president of the university. [34] During the controversy, Mulledy fell into alcoholism. 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. Some wrote emotional letters to Roothaan denouncing the morality of the sale. THEY NEED TO BE FOUND AND LINKED. (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. Jesuit priests in Maryland sold 272 slaves to Louisiana plantations in 1838 to fund Georgetown . Enslaved, marginalized and forced into illiteracy by laws that prohibited them from learning to read and write, many seem like ghosts who pass through this world without leaving a trace. 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. A photo of the slave cabins at Laurel Valley in Thibodaux is part of the GU272 Memory Project. 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? [35][34] Benedict Fenwick, the Bishop of Boston, privately lamented the fate of the slaves and considered the sale an extreme measure. Johnson and Batey agreed to pay $115,000,[5] equivalent to $2.96million in 2021,[25] over the course of ten years plus six percent annual interest. It soon became clear that Roothaan's conditions had not been fully met. We also hope to work with you on additional opportunities for engaging with those who many not be able to attend in-person gatherings. John DeGioia, President, Georgetown University. The slaves were also identified as collateral in the event that Johnson, Batey, and their guarantors defaulted on their payments. [4][a] Several of the Jesuits' slaves unsuccessfully attempted to sue for their freedom in the courts in the 1790s. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/17/us/georgetown-university-search-for-slave-descendants.html. 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. 51 slaves were to be sent to Alexandria, Virginia, then shipped to Louisiana. Dubuisson described how the public reputation of the Jesuits in Washington and Virginia declined as a result of the sale. [71] The university instead decided to raise $400,000 per year in voluntary donations for the benefit of descendants. 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. [17], Mulledy and McSherry became increasingly vocal in their opposition to Jesuit slave ownership. [5], On June 19, 1838, Mulledy, Johnson, and Batey signed articles of agreement formalizing the sale. (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 . 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. While it would seem as if there would be some mention of this in history, it remained largely unknown. Slavery was much more than the theft of labor; it was the deprivation of liberty for which this country professes so loudly. Ms. Crump is a familiar figure in Baton Rouge. Georgetown is not the first or only university to own slaves. Some slaves pleaded for rosaries as they were rounded up, praying for deliverance.
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