Research At The National Archives And Beyond!

In 1838, Georgetown University and the Maryland Jesuits sold nearly 300 enslaved men, women and children to sugar plantations in southern Louisiana in orderto recuse the college from bankruptcy.  Until late 2015, Georgetown University folklore said that all of them quickly succumbed to fever in the malodorous swamp world of Louisiana, leaving no trace and no descendants.   But this wasn’t true. The Georgetown Memory Project was founded in November 2015 to discover what really happened to the Georgetown slaves sold in 1838.  The GMP was founded by Georgetown alumni, and receives no financial assistance whatsoever from Georgetown University or the Maryland Jesuits. To date, the Georgetown Memory Project has discovered that 206 of the Georgetown slaves were transported to Louisiana in 1838, while 91 more were left behind in Maryland.  In addition, the GMP has identified, located and verified more than 6,178 of their direct descendants (living and deceased).  This is their story. Richard J. Cellini, Esq. i