In 1838, prominent Catholic priests sold 272 enslaved individuals to fund their largest mission, now Georgetown University. This groundbreaking account by journalist Rachel L. Swarns traces the Mahoney family's nearly two-century journey through indentured servitude and enslavement, revealing the Catholic Church's reliance on slave labor for its operations and expansion in the United States. The narrative begins with Ann Joice, a free Black woman who arrived in Maryland as an indentured servant in the late 1600s, only to have her freedom stolen when her contract was destroyed. Her descendants, enslaved by Jesuit priests, carried the legacy of that broken promise for generations. Among them, Harry Mahoney served valiantly during the War of 1812, but his children, Louisa and Anna, faced a grim fate in 1838—one escaped while the other was sold to Louisiana. Their family remained divided until Swarns’s reporting in The New York Times brought them back together. This reunion spurred GU272 descendants to urge Georgetown and the Catholic Church to address their historical ties to slavery, igniting a broader conversation about reparations and reconciliation in America. Swarns’s work highlights not only the Church's complicity in slavery but also honors the enslaved individuals who contributed to the growth of the largest religious denomination in the nation.
