This bibliography presents selected works that explore the legacy of Jesuit enslavement and advocate for reconciliation. Several of these works explore slavery at institutions founded by the Jesuits of Georgetown or others that benefited financially from the 1838 sale.
Consult the Georgetown Slavery Archive – Further Reading page for resources that impart an understanding of slavery in the United States, particularly in Maryland and Louisiana; the public memory of slavery; and the role of the Catholic Church in establishing and maintaining slavery.
Works below written by Georgetown faculty, students, and alumni are denoted with **. Note that resources created by students, descendants, and Georgetown administrators are listed on separate pages. GU NetID required to access database subscriptions.
Websites
The institutional and local history presented on each of these sites addresses questions raised by Georgetown’s Slavery, Memory, and Reconciliation Initiative.
Georgetown Preparatory School, History
Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School, The History of Enslaved People at Georgetown Visitation
Gonzaga College High School, Slavery Research Project
Holy Trinity Catholic Church, Holy Trinity History: Slavery, Segregation, and Race in Our Parish
Loyola University Maryland, Understanding Loyola University Maryland’s Connection to Slavery
Laura Masur, Department of Anthropology, The Catholic University of America. Still, We Speak
Carlton Fletcher, Glover Park History
Jesuits Conference of Canada and U.S., Slavery, History, Memory and Reconciliation
Kelly Schmidt and Ayan Ali, Descendants of the St. Louis University Enslaved, From Darkness to Light: Revealing the Histories of the Communities Enslaved by the Jesuits, April 26, 2022
Books
Curran, Robert Emmett. The Bicentennial History of Georgetown University. Georgetown University Press, 1993. **
Curran, Robert Emmett. A History of Georgetown University. Georgetown University Press, 2010. **
Endres, David J., and Archbishop Shelton J. Fabre, eds. Slavery and the Catholic Church in the United States : Historical Studies. 1st ed. Catholic University of America Press, 2023.
Faison, Alexis, Israel White, Lisa Zimmerelli, and David Carey, Jr., eds. Untold Truths: Exposing Slavery and Its Legacies at Loyola University Maryland. Loyola University Maryland, 2024.
Gollar, C. Walker. “Let Us Go Free” : Slavery and Jesuit Universities in America. Georgetown University Press, 2024.
Lesko, Kathleen M, Valerie Melissa Babb, and Carroll R Gibbs. Black Georgetown Remembered : A History of Its Black Community from the Founding of “The Town of George” in 1751 to the Present Day. 25th anniversary edition. Georgetown University Press, 2016. **
O’Toole, James M. Passing for White : Race, Religion, and the Healy Family, 1820-1920. University of Massachusetts Press, 2002.
Rothman, Adam, and Elsa Barraza Mendoza, eds. Facing Georgetown’s History : A Reader on Slavery, Memory, and Reconciliation. Georgetown University Press, 2021. **
Swarns, Rachel L. The 272 : The Families Who Were Enslaved and Sold to Build the American Catholic Church. First edition. New York: Random House, 2023.
- Táíwò, Olúfẹmi O. Reconsidering Reparations. New York: Oxford University Press, 2022.**
Taylor, Merideth M. Making a Way Out of No Way: Lives of Labor, Love, and Resistance. New Village Press, 2024.
Thomas, William G. A Question of Freedom : The Families Who Challenged Slavery from the Nation’s Founding to the Civil War. Yale University Press, 2020.
Dissertations
Masur, Laura E. "Priestly Plantations: An Archaeology of Capitalism and Community in British North America." Boston University, 2019.
Mendoza, Elsa Barraza. “Catholic Slaveholders, Enslaved People, and the Making of Georgetown University, 1792-1862.” Georgetown University, 2021. **
Schmidt, Kelly Lynn. ""We Heard Sometimes their Earnest Desire to be Free in a Free Country": Enslaved People, Jesuit Masters, and Negotiations for Freedom on American Borderlands, 1823–1930." Loyola University Chicago, 2021.
Scholarly Articles
Bernier, Julia W. "Georgetown and Slavery, from Plantation to Campus." Journal of the Early Republic 44, no. 1 (2024): 87-114.
Curran, Robert Emmett. “‘Splendid Poverty’: Jesuit Slaveholding in Maryland, 1805–1838.” In Shaping American Catholicism: Maryland and New York, 1805-1915, 30–51. Catholic University of America Press, 2012. **
Masur, Laura. “A Spiritual Inheritance: Black Catholics in Southern Maryland,” in Engaging Sources: The Tradition and Future of Collecting History in the Society of Jesus (Proceedings of the Symposium held at Boston College, June 11–13, 2019), edited by Christiano Casalini, Emanuele Colombo, and Seth Meehan, Boston, MA: Institute of Jesuit Sources, 2021.
Mendoza, Elsa Barraza. "Catholic Slaveowners and the Development of Georgetown University’s Slave Hiring System, 1792–1862." Journal of Jesuit Studies 8, no. 1 (2020): 56-80. **
__________. “Enslaved on Campus: Displaced Lives, Families, and Religion at Georgetown College.” Slavery & Abolition 44: no. 1 (2022): 48–68. **
Foley, Thomas. "Saving Souls and Selling Them: Jesuit Slaveholding and the Georgetown Slavery Archive." Jesuit Higher Education: A Journal 6:1 (May 2017) . **
Leon, Sharon. "Re-Presenting the Enslaved Community sold by the Maryland Province Jesuits in 1838," [bracket], September 30, 2016. **
Mikhail, John, and Adam Rothman. “Slaveholding and Judicial Opinions of William Gaston (2022),” Georgetown Slavery Archive. **
Nalezyty, Susan. "The History of Enslaved People at Georgetown Visitation." U.S. Catholic Historian 37, no. 2 (2019): 23-48.
O’Toole, James M. “How a Nineteenth-Century Black Man Became President of Georgetown University.” The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, 38, Winter 2002-2003: 110–13.
Rothman, Adam. “Georgetown University and the Business of Slavery.” Washington History 29, no. 2 (2017): 18–22. **
__________. "The Jesuits and Slavery." Journal of Jesuit Studies 8, no. 1 (2020): 1-10. **
__________. "Slavery's Legacy: Georgetown Faces Its Past," Conversations on Jesuit Higher Education Vol. 51, Article 11 (2017). **
Schmidt, Kelly L. "Enslaved Faith Communities in the Jesuits' Missouri Mission." U.S. Catholic Historian 37, no. 2 (2019): 49-81.
__________. “The Pervasive Institution: Slavery and Its Legacies in U.S. Catholicism,” American Catholic Studies Newsletter 49, no. 1 (Spring 2022) 10-22.
Wilder, Craig Steven. “War and Priests: Catholic Colleges and Slavery in the Age of Revolution.” In Slavery’s Capitalism: A New History of American Economic Development, edited by Sven Beckert and Seth Rockman, 227–42. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2016.
Newspaper and Magazine Articles
Anderson, Nick. “At Georgetown University, a family reunion 178 years after a fateful sale,” Washington Post, September 2, 2016.
Buckler, Catherine. "GU272 descendants and others participate in Spiritual Walk in Old Town Alexandria to retrace ancestors’ steps." Catholic Standard, July 10, 2024.
Carnes, Matthew, S.J. “Remember Georgetown’s History of Slavery.” The Hoya, September 20, 2019. **
Collins, David. “Georgetown, Jesuits, Slaveholding.” The Hoya, February 19, 2015. **
Dauray, Kevin. Slavery’s Connection to DC High School Explored in Traveling Exhibit, Now on Display at Alexandria’s Freedom House Museum." Zebra, December 27, 2023.
Iati, Marisa. “Jesuits pledge $100 million for descendants of enslaved people the order once owned.” Washington Post, March 16, 2021.
Guidos, Rhina. “On Juneteenth, a noted DC Catholic church asks forgiveness for its racist past.” National Catholic Reporter, June 26, 2024.
Kelly, Rah J-S. “Libation Ceremony Honors the 272 People Sold by Georgetown University.” Washington Informer, November 10, 2023.
Parry, Mark. “A New Path to Atonement,”The Chronicle of Higher Education. January 20, 2019.
Rothman, Adam. “VIEWPOINT: Pursue Accountability and Justice.” The Hoya, September 5, 2024. **
Siegel, Rachel. “Did Their School Have Ties to Slavery? Now Students Try to Make Sense of the Answer.” Washington Post, September 25, 2017.
Svrugala Susan. “Jesuits, Georgetown Give $27 million to fund for descendants of enslaved people,” Washington Post, September 13, 2023.
Swarns, Rachel L. “Catholic Order Pledges $100 Million to Atone for Slave Labor and Sales.” New York Times, March 15, 2021.
__________. “A Catholic Order Pledged $100 Million to Atone for Taking Part in the Slave Trade. Some Descendants Want a New Deal.” The New York Times, April 17, 2021.
__________. “Catholic Order Struggles to Raise $100 Million to Atone for Slave Labor.” New York Times, August 16, 2022.
__________. “Georgetown University Plans Steps to Atone for Its Slave Past.” New York Times, September 1, 2016.
__________. “Is Georgetown’s $400,000-a-Year Plan to Aid Slave Descendants Enough?” New York Times, October 30, 2019.
__________. “A Glimpse Into the Life of a Slave Sold to Save Georgetown.” New York Times, March 12, 2017.
__________. “The Nuns Who Bought and Sold Human Beings.” New York Times, August 2, 2019.
__________. “The Search for a Meaningful Clue to the Mystery of an Enslaved Ancestor.” New York Times, August 6, 2022.
__________. “272 Slaves Were Sold to Save Georgetown. What Does It Owe Its Descendants?” New York Times, April 16, 2016.
Swarns, Rachel L. and Sona Patel. “‘A Million Questions’ From Descendants of Slaves Sold to Georgetown.” New York Times, May 20, 2016.
Verveer, Melanne. “VIEWPOINT: Celebrating Anne Marie Becraft.” The Hoya, April 18, 2017. **