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This project seeks to document the history of Georgetown University 272 (GU 272 Descendants) with ties to Southern University and A&M College. The GU272 were enslaved people who were sold by Georgetown University and the Maryland Jesuits to southern Louisiana in 1838. In the summer of 1838, Georgetown’s Jesuit Priests made a fateful bargain. Debts were mounting from the construction and maintenance of Georgetown College, and an infusion of cash was urgently needed. At the time, the Jesuits’ most valuable assets were the hundreds of slaves who worked their local tobacco plantations. Georgetown University included 272 enslaved people on a Bill of Sale to plantations in Louisiana to save the university from financial ruin.
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Georgetown University 272 (GU272)
Georgetown University which we know today was founded by the Society of Jesus, The Jesuits of Maryland, who ran Georgetown in its first decades, and owned and operated plantations throughout Maryland that ran on enslaved labor. Profits from these plantations were funneled into the university, and given the region’s agricultural profile. It is likely that some wealthy families who donated to the school were themselves enslavers.
The most notorious incident of Georgetown’s history with slavery is the sale of the 272 enslaved people, known today as the GU272, by the Jesuits of Maryland in 1838. To keep the university financially viable, two of Georgetown’s early presidents sold these men, women, and children for a total of $115,000—roughly $3.3 million in today’s money.
In the summer of 1838, Georgetown’s Jesuit Priests made a fateful bargain. Debts were mounting from the construction and maintenance of Georgetown College, and an infusion of cash was urgently needed. At the time, the Jesuits’ most valuable assets were the hundreds of slaves who worked on their local tobacco plantations. Georgetown University included 272 enslaved people on a Bill of Sale to plantations in Louisiana to save the university from financial ruin.
The story of the 272 doesn’t end in 1838. After being sold to Louisiana enslavers in the South, many were separated from their families and sent to other plantations. Though they faced incredible hardship, most of the enslaved people did not perish. They married and raised children.
The slaves were themselves Catholics, many having been baptized by Father Thomas Mulledy, President of Georgetown from 1829 to 1837, or his successor, Father William McSherry.
The two men concluded in 1838 that selling most of the college’s slaves was both expedient and necessary. In addition to having concerns about the college’s pressing financial needs, the Jesuits may have calculated that the cost of owning slaves was more expensive than paid labor. They were also likely aware that public sentiment in the District of Columbia was beginning to shift against slavery.
Many of the descendants still live in southern Maryland and Louisiana today. We now know that the number of individuals sold during this sale is at least 314. Tradition claimed that all perished on the way to Louisiana, but they survived – many of them through the Civil War living long enough to see Emancipation.
Over 8,000 of their descendants are now known and the numbers continue to grow. It is a story of perseverance and survival.
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