Facing Georgetown's History: A Reader on Slavery, Memory, and Reconciliation

by Adam Rothman (Editor), Elsa Barraza Mendoza (Editor), Lauret Savoy (Foreword)

A microcosm of the history of American slavery in a collection of the most important primary and secondary readings on slavery at Georgetown University and among the Maryland Jesuits

Georgetown University’s early history, closely tied to that of the Society of Jesus in Maryland, is a microcosm of the history of American slavery: the entrenchment of chattel slavery in the tobacco economy of the Chesapeake in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; the contradictions of liberty and slavery at the founding of the United States; the rise of the domestic slave trade to the cotton and sugar kingdoms of the Deep South in the nineteenth century; the political conflict over slavery and its overthrow amid civil war; and slavery’s persistent legacies of racism and inequality. It is also emblematic of the complex entanglement of American higher education and religious institutions with slavery.

Important primary sources drawn from the university's and the Maryland Jesuits' archives document Georgetown’s tangled history with slavery, down to the sizes of shoes distributed to enslaved people on the Jesuit plantations that subsidized the school. The volume also includes scholarship on Jesuit slaveholding in Maryland and at Georgetown, news coverage of the university’s relationship with slavery, and reflections from descendants of the people owned and sold by the Maryland Jesuits.

These essays, articles, and documents introduce readers to the history of Georgetown's involvement in slavery and recent efforts to confront this troubling past. Current efforts at recovery, repair, and reconciliation are part of a broader contemporary moment of reckoning with American history and its legacies. This reader traces Georgetown’s “Slavery, Memory, and Reconciliation Initiative” and the role of universities, which are uniquely situated to conduct that reckoning in a constructive way through research, teaching, and modeling thoughtful, informed discussion.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

320 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 2021

Reviews

[Deena · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won this title from goodreads. This book is a great collection of primary and secondary sources that outlined the history of enslavement at Georgetown. It’s more of a reference tome but well organized.

[Barbara White · Rating 5 out of 5]

Facing Georgetown's History is amazing, thoughtful, and provocative. It's a terrific read, as difficult as it to read, at times, learning more history of the United States. Thanks to Goodreads First Reads for my copy of the book.

[Cappy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just an absolutely essential and accessible trove of information and insight. This book should be the very first stop for anyone who has any interest in learning about Jesuit slaveholding in America.