[27], The articles of agreement listed each of the slaves being sold by name. [24], Mulledy quickly made arrangements to carry out the sale. [24] When he returned in November to gather the rest of the slaves, the plantation managers had their slaves flee and hide. By the 1840s, word was trickling back to Washington that the slaves new owners had broken their promises. Thomas F. Mulledy, president of Georgetown from 1829 to 1838, and again from 1845 to 1848, arranged the sale. Ms. Crump, 69, has been asking herself that question, too. A photograph of Frank Campbell, one of 272 slaves sold to keep Georgetown University afloat, was found in a scrapbook at Nicholls State University in Louisiana. ). That building is now known as Freedom Hall. He might have disappeared from view again for a time, save for something few could have counted on: his deep, abiding faith. The college relied on Jesuit plantations in Maryland to help finance its operations, university officials say. Against the conditions agreed upon, families were separated due to this sale. 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. He addressed his concerns to Father Mulledy, who three years earlier had returned to his post as president of Georgetown. Ms. Crump, a retired television news anchor, was driving to Maringouin, her hometown, in early February when her cellphone rang. (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. Slaves were often threatened with having family members sold away, splitting parents from even infants because of minor infractions as determined by the slave owner. [13], Beginning in 1800, there were instances of the Jesuit plantation managers freeing individual slaves or permitting slaves to purchase their freedom. 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. 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. Now that we have this data, my hope is that we can use it to open doors and make connections. This is the original list of slaves from the Jesuit plantations compiled in preparation for the sale in 1838. Inspiring Stories of Black History and Achievement, 272 Slaves Sold to Finance Georgetown University. Mr. Cellini was on the line. William McSherry, the college presidents involved in the sale, from two campus buildings. In the uproar that followed, he was called to Rome and reassigned. In November, the university agreed to remove the names of the Rev. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Join Amazon Prime Watch Thousands of Movies & TV Shows Anytime. In 1870, he appeared in the census for the first time. We ask our visitors to confirm their email to keep your account secure and make sure you're able to receive email from us. They also established schools on their lands. [41] The Jesuits never received the total $115,000 that was owed under the agreement. [72] In 2021, the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States pledged to raise $100million for a newly created Descendants Truth and Reconciliation Foundation, which would aim to ultimately raise $1billion, with the purpose of working for the benefit of descendants of all slaves owned by the Jesuits. Now, with racial protests roiling college campuses, an unusual collection of Georgetown professors, students, alumni and genealogists is trying to find out what happened to those 272 men, women and children. Upon receipt of these 51, Johnson and Batey were to pay the first $25,000. 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. [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. We can't do it without youAmerica Media relies on generous support from our readers. [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. Jan Roothaan, who headed the Jesuits international organization from Rome and was initially reluctant to authorize the sale. She still wants to know more about Corneliuss beginnings, and about his life as a free man. 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. (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 . Some slaves suffered at the hands of a cruel overseer. [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. [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. [37] As censure for the scandal,[39] Roothaan ordered Mulledy to remain in Europe,[35] and Mulledy lived in exile in Nice until 1843. 2023 A Month of Tribute to 31 Women We Should All Know, Rosewood A Typical Race Riot in America. The students organized a protest and a sit-in, using the hashtag #GU272 for the slaves who were sold. (The two men would swap positions by 1838.). Leave a message for others who see this profile. 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. 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. 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. It would not survive, Father Mulledy feared, without an influx of cash. A white man, he admitted that he had never spent much time thinking about slavery or African-American history. 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 Mulledy took most of the down payment he received from the sale about $500,000 in todays dollars and used it to help pay off the debts that Georgetown had incurred under his leadership. [5], On June 19, 1838, Mulledy, Johnson, and Batey signed articles of agreement formalizing the sale. 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 . 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. [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. The two women drove on the narrow roads that line the green, rippling sugar cane fields in Iberville Parish. The Jesuits used the proceeds to benefit then-Georgetown College. If youre already a subscriber or donor, thank you! The truth was closer to home than anyone knew", "272 Slaves Were Sold to Save Georgetown. IMPORTANT PRIVACY NOTICE & DISCLAIMER: YOU HAVE A RESPONSIBILITY TO USE CAUTION WHEN DISTRIBUTING PRIVATE INFORMATION. The Jesuits decided that the elderly would not be sold south and instead would be permitted to remain in Maryland. Tweet. [64] Mulledy Hall, a student dormitory that opened in 1966,[65] was renamed as BrooksMulledy Hall in 2016, adding the name of a later president, John E. Brooks, who worked to racially integrate the college. From the 2016 Washington Ideas Forum. Leaders in policy, business, technology, science, history, arts and culture engaged with top journalists on the most consequential issues of our time. 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. Copyright 2023 America Press Inc. | All Rights Reserved. [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. 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. [4] Many of these slaves were gifted to the Jesuits, while others were purchased. 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. Now they are real to me, she said, more real every day.. Georgetown is not the first or only university to own slaves. It also notes slaves who had run away, and those who had been "married off." [43][44] In 1856, Washington Barrow sold the slaves he purchased from Batey to William Patrick and Joseph B. Woolfolk of Iberville Parish. Soon, the two men and their teams were working on parallel tracks. [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. Georgetown has renamed one of its buildings Isaac Hawkins Hall named after the first enslaved on the list of the account of the sale. 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. This has made people reluctant to see the past and this has had a long term harm by remaining hidden and allowed to fester. In 2017, Georgetown University held aday of remembranceduring which the president of the Jesuit order apologized to more than 100 descendants attending a contrition liturgy. Slaves and the products they produced were responsible for well over 50% of the entire GNP of the United States. . (Valuable Plantation and Negroes for Sale, read one newspaper advertisement in 1852.). 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. 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. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. [32] An unknown number of slaves may also have run away and escaped transportation. The articles of agreement listed each of the slaves by name to be sold. Jesuit priests in Maryland sold 272 slaves to Louisiana plantations in 1838 to fund Georgetown . 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. However, the remainder of the money received did go to funding Jesuit formation. Isaac Hawkins was the first enslaved person listed in the 1838 sale document. CNN In 1838, the Jesuits who ran Georgetown University sold 272 enslaved people to pay off the university's debts. After the Jesuits vacated the buildings, Ryan and Mulledy Halls lay vacant, while Gervase Hall was put to other use. In November, the university agreed to remove the names of the Rev. Advertisement In Bayonne-Johnson's hands,. March 24, 2017. 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. ALL OF THE PEOPLE LISTED ON THIS PAGE HAVE PROFILES. The U.S. Department of State defines modern slavery as "the act of recruiting, harboring, transporting, providing, or obtaining a person for compelled . Michelle Miller reports. 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). [27] Johnson allowed these slaves to remain in Maryland because he intended to return and try to buy their spouses as well. [58] In November of that year, following a student-led protest and sit-in,[59] the working group recommended that the university temporarily rename Mulledy Hall (which opened during Mulledy's presidency in 1833)[60] to Freedom Hall, and McSherry Hall (which opened in 1792 and housed a meditation center)[61] to Remembrance Hall. [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. 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. 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. So Judy Riffel, one of the genealogists hired by Mr. Cellini, began following a chain of weddings and births, baptisms and burials. In addition to becoming physically dilapidated, all but one of the plantations had fallen into debt. 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. Richard Cellini, the chief executive of a technology company and a Georgetown alumnus, hired eight genealogists to track down the slaves and their descendants. The week also provided opportunities for members of the descendant community to connect with one another and with Jesuits through a private vigil on Monday night, a descendant-only dinner on Tuesday evening and tours of the Maryland plantation where their ancestors were enslaved. [9] The main crops grown were tobacco and corn. And she learned that Cornelius had worked the soil of a 2,800-acre estate that straddled the Bayou Maringouin. Thomas F. Mulledy and the Rev. 272 Slaves Were Sold to Save 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. Some children were sold without their parents, records show, and slaves were dragged off by force to the ship, the Rev. 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. [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. [42], Before the abolition of slavery in the United States in 1865, many slaves sold by the Jesuits changed ownership several times. Colleges and universities have placed greater emphasis on education equity in recent years. We ask readers to log in so that we can recognize you as a registered user and give you unrestricted access to our website. While they continued to support gradual emancipation, they believed that this option was becoming increasingly untenable, as the Maryland public's concern grew about the expanding number of free blacks. ", New England Historic Genealogical Society, "They thought Georgetown University's missing slaves were 'lost.' Families would not be separated. A Jesuit reports on the slaves' religious life in Louisiana, 1848, Chatham Plantation, Ascension Parish, Louisiana. Now shes working for justice. Georgetown is not the only institution that has prospered on the backs of enslaved people. [48] It is one of the most well-documented slave sales of its era. But the revelations about her lineage and the church she grew up in have unleashed a swirl of emotions. The Rev. The remainder of the slaves were accounted for in three subsequent bills of sale executed in November 1838, which specified that 64 would go to Batey's plantation named West Oak in Iberville Parish and 140 slaves would be sent to Johnson's two plantations, Ascension Plantation (later known as Chatham Plantation) in Ascension Parish and another in Maringouin (Iberville Parish).
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