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Reckoning with History: Jesuit Slaveholding and the Present Work of Restorative Justice

Facing the history and legacy of Jesuit slaveholding

Over the last 10 years, the Hank Center has convened several conversations on the hard history of Jesuit slaveholding-- not only taking a focused look at Georgetown's slave-owning past but also examining other aberrational institutional and corporate behaviors in regard to subjugation and power taking place in the US both historically and presently.

Reckoning with History was a multi-panel conversation that sought to share this slaveholding history, examine the experience of grappling with these facts, understand the approaches to take action, and explore ways that individuals, organizations, and university communities can move forward in a just and careful way.

We were most honored to welcome Rachel L. Swarns, longtime correspondent with the New York Times and author of The 272: The Families Who Were Enslaved and Sold to Build the American Catholic Church, as our keynote speaker and conversation partner. We were also delighted by our partnership with Monique Maddox, President of the Descendants Truth and Reconciliation Foundation, and we had a most engaging set of sessions.

Reckoning with History focused on the following objectives:

Sharing this history and telling the story of slavery's effects on the people connected to it.

Grappling with the reality of these facts and reflecting on what is invited in the way of recognition, healing, and justice.

Discussing, exploring, and committing to restorative action.

One guiding set of questions to consider: How do we approach this history and react to institutional slaveholding as individuals? As a University? As partners in Jesuit/Ignatian educational mission? As a nation? As a Church?

Event Details

October 17–18, 2024

Information Commons 4th Floor, Lake Shore Campus

Loyola University Chicago

Admission is free and all are welcome.

Event Program

View event program

Thursday, October 17

7 PM – 8:45 PM: Keynote Presentation and Discussion

Monique Trusclair Maddox, President of the Descendants Truth and Reconciliation Foundation
Rachel Swarns, Author of The 272: The Families Who Were Enslaved and Sold to Build the American Catholic Church
Fr. Tim Kesicki, SJ, Rector of the Bellarmine House of Studies at Saint Louis University and President Emeritus of the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States

Friday, October 18

9 – 10:15 AM: Panel 2, The Role of Historical Scholarship

Dr. Adam Rothman, Professor in the History Department and Director of Georgetown's Center for the Study of Slavery and Its Legacies
Dr. Elsa Mendoza, Associate Professor of History at Middlebury College

Rothman and Mendoza together co-edited Facing Georgetown’s History: A Reader on Slavery, Memory, and Reconciliation (Georgetown University Press, 2021) and curated the Georgetown Slavery Archive.

Dr. Leslie Harris, Professor of History at Northwestern University
Moderator: Dr. Malik Henfield

10:15 – 10:30 AM: Break

10:30 – 11:15 AM: Response by Rwandan Bishop Balthazar Ntivuguruzwa

11:15 – 11:30 AM: Break

11:30 – 12:45 PM: Panel 3, A Praxis of Reconciliation

Robin Rue Simmons, Executive Director of FirstRepair
Monica Haslip, Executive Director of Little Black Pearl Workshop
Fr. Joshua Peters, SJ, Director of Mission and Identity at Christ the King Jesuit College Preparatory School and Jesuit Antiracism and Sodality Leadership
Moderator: Monique Trusclair Maddox

12:30 PM: Prayer before lunch

12:45 – 2 PM: Lunch

~2PM Symposium concludes.