University · est. 1789

Georgetown University

In 1838 the Jesuits who ran Georgetown sold 272 enslaved people to rescue the college's finances.

Georgetown's survival was underwritten by slavery: the Maryland Jesuits owned plantations worked by enslaved people, and in 1838 sold 272 of them — the "GU272" — to Louisiana for about $115,000. The university apologized in 2017 and offers descendants preferential admission.

Documentation

Websites·1

Website· Primary

Georgetown apologizes for the 1838 sale of 272 enslaved people

Georgetown University

The university's reckoning with the GU272 sale.

The web

Connections to other moments, systems, and investigations — the links rarely drawn together.

profited from·Event
Georgetown sells 272 enslaved people
Georgetown sold 272 enslaved people to pay its debts.
profited from·Thread
Chattel Slavery
The college was sustained by Jesuit plantation slavery.