Research Guides: African American Studies: News

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'Their Lives Matter': Descendents of Those Owned by Jesuits Want Their Voices Heard Rashonda Alexander’s life has always revolved around her Catholic faith. She calls herself a cradle Catholic: baptized and raised in the faith, sent to Catholic schools and married in the church. Growing up as a Black Catholic, Alexander always felt like the odd one out. It wasn’t until last year that she learned why her family has been Catholic for generations. Two of her ancestors were owned by a Catholic order of priests, the Jesuits, at St. Louis University.
Archdiocese’s Research into History with Slavery Reveals Three Bishops, Priests as Slaveowners Three bishops, numerous clergy are included in those who were slaveholders.
At Least 70 People Were Enslaved by the Jesuits in St. Louis. Descendents Are Now Telling Their Stories. Against their wills, Thomas and Mary Brown, Moses and Nancy Queen, and Isaac and Susan Hawkins were taken from a White Marsh, Maryland, plantation in 1823, forced to leave their families and children 800 miles behind to help the Jesuits in their founding of the Missouri Mission.
Baseball Player, Musician Enslaved by Jesuits Remembered by Descendants The life of a St. Louis baseball player and musician who prospered after being born into slavery was commemorated Monday by more than a dozen of his descendants at Calvary Cemetery.
Confronting SLU's History With Slavery In 2016, SLU joined the Jesuits USA Central and Southern Province (UCS) in launching an initiative to confront a joint history of involvement in the enslavement of African Americans that dates back to the founding of the university.
Dr. Katrina Moore Helps SLU Grapple with ‘Culture of Slavery’ Dr. Katrina Thompson Moore, an associate professor in the departments of history and African American Studies at Saint Louis University, shares her thoughts on slavery research, education and history.
Effort to Document Jesuit Slaveholding in St. Louis Is Quietly Downsized A local partnership between the Jesuits and St. Louis University to research their history of slaveholding, including finding and reconciling with descendants, has been quietly downsized to a staff of one priest.
Interview: How the Jesuits are Working to Confront Their History of Slavery Ayan Ali is a researcher with the Slavery, History, Memory, and Reconciliation (SHMR) Project of the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States. As we close Black History Month, I spoke with her about the focus of the SHMR Project, what she has learned from the research, and the importance of Black history.
Meet the Researchers Helping the Jesuits Address Their History of Slaveholding Laura Weis coordinates the Jesuits Slavery, History, Memory and Reconciliation Project on behalf of the Society of Jesus in the United States, working to build relationships with descendants, community members, researchers, Jesuit partners and others to identify the history and descendants of Jesuit-enslaved people in the 19th century United States.
Not Nameless’: Bringing the Lives of those Enslaved to Light As with many of us, Robin Proudie’s daily routine includes checking her mailbox and sifting through the usual assortment of bills, advertising circulars, and requests from charitable organizations to find that rare missive that might be of special interest. She found one on a July morning in 2019. Ms. Proudie, who has since retired from a federal government position, was unfamiliar with the Slavery, History, Memory and Reconciliation Project, but she was familiar with the city from which the letter came – St. Louis – her childhood hometown.
Painful History and Reconciliation The Jesuits of the USA Central and Southern Province and Saint Louis University embark on project to uncover their history with those held in slavery and seek reconciliation with their descendants
The Pervasive Institution: Slavery and its Legacies in U.S. Catholicism Over the past decade, several dioceses and religious orders have begun to examine more closely their histories of slaveholding. Yet most—especially white—Catholics are not aware that, as historian Shannen Dee Williams has often emphasized, the Catholic Church was the first and largest corporate slaveholder in the Americas.
Reckoning with Slavery's Legacy in St. Louis St. Louis is nicknamed “the Gateway to the West” thanks to its role as a transportation hub for westward expansion. Thousands of settlers used St. Louis’s steamboats, railroads, and wagon trails as a bridge towards their dreams of financial prosperity in the west. Many enslaved St. Louisans, however, looked towards the east.
Saint Louis University (In Partnership with Jesuits USA Central and Southern Province) Joins USS The Universities Studying Slavery (USS) consortium continues to grow and expand its reach geographically. We are thrilled to announce that Saint Louis University in Saint Louis, Missouri, has signed on and joined our movement. Universities Studying Slavery for the first time now includes a school in the trans-Mississippi West–we hope this inaugurates a new era when other western schools begin to investigate their own difficult pasts.
Sharing the Whole Story: Teaching the Complex History and Legacy of American Slavery A few years ago, Dr. Katrina Thompson Moore, an associate professor of history at Saint Louis University, was helping her niece prepare for a high school social studies test on the U.S. Civil War era. Because Dr. Moore’s area of study is the institution of slavery, she could offer her niece insight beyond what she was learning in the textbook.
Slavery, History, Memory and Reconciliation at SLU In “Before the Mayflower,” a classic black history text by Lerone Bennett, he writes: “Few ships before or since have unloaded such a momentous cargo.” The ship in question was an English pirate ship. That ship, in the summer of 1619, had stolen its “cargo” from a Portuguese vessel. The Portuguese vessel, in turn, had acquired its “cargo” of 350 Africans who had been stolen for a trade which aimed to sell them into slavery in the Western Hemisphere. Now, 400 years later, we are still grappling with what this important point – what this landing – ultimately wrought.
Slaves Played Role in History of SLU Georgetown University made headlines last week when it announced it would make amends for selling 272 slaves in 1838, a transaction worth $3 million in today’s economy. The slaves were shipped from Jesuit plantations in Maryland to Louisiana — and some accompanied Jesuits in 1823 to a small school in St. Louis that would become Saint Louis University.
Uncharted Territory: Jesuits in St. Louis Search for Descendants of People They Enslaved The Society of Jesus, a Roman Catholic order of priests and brothers, has shaped part of the regions identity for two centuries. They guide St. Louis University, which, along with its law and medical schools, were the first west of the Mississippi. Now the Jesuits, as they are commonly known, are again in uncharted territory. Only this time its a mission to confront their history of holding people in bondage to build up and run an institution thats supposed to serve God.
Update on Slavery, History, Memory and Reconciliation (SHMR) Project As I promised in my letter of May 29, 2018, I am writing to update you regarding the ongoing work on the Slavery, History, Memory and Reconciliation (SHMR) Project.

Audio

Videos

Raising Equity, "How a University is Publicly Taking Responsibility for its Role in Slavery," YouTube Video, 42:16, November 1, 2019, https://youtu.be/dLRyTeWubtY.

Nine PBS, "The History of Enslaved People at Saitn Louis University | Living St. Louis," YouTube Video, 9:39, June 19, 2023, https://youtu.be/M_qzP1OGVvw.