The 272
By Rachel L. Swarns
Certainly! “The 272: The Families Who Were Enslaved and Sold to Build the American Catholic Church” by Rachel L. Swarns is a powerful and eye-opening account that delves into the history of Georgetown University’s connection to slavery. Let me provide you with a summary of this important book:
Main Topic:
- The central theme of “The 272” revolves around the sale of 272 enslaved individuals by prominent Catholic priests in 1838. These enslaved people were sold to fund what would later become Georgetown University.
Key Ideas and Arguments:
- Georgetown University’s Involvement: The book sheds light on Georgetown University’s direct involvement in the sale of enslaved individuals. It explores how this historical event continues to impact the university’s identity and reputation today.
- Descendants’ Lives: Through the lens of one family—the Mahoney family—the book traces nearly two centuries of indentured servitude and enslavement. The descendants of these enslaved individuals carry the weight of this painful legacy.
- Acknowledgment and Reconciliation: “The 272” also highlights the efforts made by Georgetown University to acknowledge its historical ties to slavery. It emphasizes the importance of addressing historical injustices and seeking reconciliation.
Chapter Titles:
- The Archive: Uncovering historical records and documents related to the sale.
- The Sale: Examining the transaction where 272 people were sold.
- A Story Heard: The oral history passed down through generations.
- The Fathers: The role of Catholic priests in the sale.
- Black Lives in the Wake: The impact on the lives of those enslaved.
- Family: Tracing the Mahoney family’s journey.
- Reconciliation: Efforts toward healing and understanding.
Short Summary of the Story:
- The saga begins with Ann Joice, a free Black woman who sailed to Maryland in the late 1600s as an indentured servant. Her contract was burned, and her freedom stolen. Her descendants, enslaved by Jesuit priests, carried the story of that broken promise for centuries.
- Harry Mahoney, one of Ann Joice’s descendants, saved lives and the church’s money during the War of 1812. However, his children, including Louisa and Anna, were put up for sale in 1838. One daughter escaped, while the other was sold and shipped to Louisiana.
- Rachel Swarns’s reporting in The New York Times eventually reunited these descendants. Their journey became part of a broader movement for reparations and reconciliation in America.
- “The 272” not only exposes how slavery fueled the growth of the American Catholic Church but also honors the enslaved people whose forced labor contributed to building the largest religious denomination in the nation.
This book has sparked national conversations about universities with ties to slavery and serves as a crucial addition to our understanding of history.
Critical Acclaim
“The 272, Rachel L. Swarns’s deeply researched and revelatory new book…journeys to slavery’s heart of darkness: to the separation of families, the terror of being sold into the vast unknown and of bodies transformed into profits and investments. But it is also the moving human story of some of the people who endured and survived this ordeal, and who have long awaited rediscovery…. No single work of history can remedy the vexing issue of repair for slavery in America, but The 272 advances the conversation and challenges the collective conscience; without knowing this history in its complexity we are left with only raw, uncharted memory.”
— David Blight, The New York Times Book Review
“Powerful and moving…Swarns centers the experiences of enslaved people owned by the Jesuits for nearly two centuries who remained largely unnamed and unknown until now…and weaves together extensive research, data, letters and oral histories to bring forth an intimate family story.”
— Ana Lucia Araujo, The Washington Post Book Review
“Swarns reminds us that the legacy of slavery is simultaneously the legacy of resistance, a precious gift that ancestors bestow on descendants and that scholars can sometimes hear in oral accounts or glimpse in the written archive.”
— Tiya Miles, The New York Review of Books
“…a vivid and compelling narrative…that illuminates the pragmatic motives of the Jesuits and recovers from near-oblivion the lives of the enslaved people at the center of the story….Ms. Swarns has brilliantly mined archives and oral histories to tease out buried connections and biographical details.”
— Fergus M. Bordewich, The Wall Street Journal
“…a vivid, pointillistically detailed narrative that foregrounds the people who were enslaved even as it tells the story of the school buildings erected with their labor and the institutions sustained and funded by their sale.”
— The New Yorker
“A vital new work…The 272 is a meticulously researched work of narrative history and investigative journalism.”
— The Guardian
“The 272 is an unflinching condemnation of the Catholic Church’s past and a long overdue eulogy for those who are long gone but should never be forgotten.”
— Time Magazine
“Admirably fair-minded…[A] splendid book.”
— America Magazine
“A brilliant blend of history and journalism, this book unearths the story of the enslaved people whose labor benefited the Catholic Church — and what happened when their descendants' sought answers.”
— People Magazine
“When books like this one come along, I sing its praises, especially when the research and writing are this damn good.”
— Ms. Magazine
“Studying the era from the early days of the Jesuits in the United States to the Civil War, Swarns makes clear that the 1838 sale was just one of many moments in which the exploitation of enslaved people shaped and secured the future of the university and the Jesuit order.”
— Commonweal Magazine
“This immersive and doggedly reported account…reveals how the 1838 sale of 272 enslaved men, women, and children saved the debt-ridden Jesuit college now known as Georgetown University. In devastating detail, Swarns traces the sale’s impact on the families of Anna and Louisa Mahoney…Intertwined with the Mahoney family story is Swarns’s searing investigation into the Catholic Church’s deep involvement in American slavery, which has fueled debates at Georgetown and other colleges and universities…a powerful reminder of how firmly the roots of slavery are planted in America’s soil. (June)”
— Publishers Weekly, starred review
“Lively and scrupulously documented, the book brings to light a previously unknown piece of the history of slavery in the U.S.”
— Kirkus, starred review
“With empathy and meticulous care, Swarns lays bare the hard truths surrounding the sale…This book is essential reading.”
— Booklist, starred review
“Rachel L. Swarns’s The 272 tells the poignant story of the Black families at the heart of early Catholic America. Owned and sold by Jesuit priests, these families fought to hold on to body and soul across generations. Through dogged research and with great insight, Swarns has stitched together a history once torn apart by slavery, distance, and time.”
— Adam Rothman, PhD, director of the Georgetown Center for the Study of Slavery and Its Legacies
“The 272 is revealing about old sins in the Catholic Church and conclusive at tying American higher education to slavery, but the wonderful part is that Swarns reveals and persuades by telling the story of one Black family across the 1800s—people whose names you learn and lives you follow for three generations, individuals who find their way through the tunnel of enslavement and come out whole.”
— Edward Ball, author of Slaves in the Family and Life of a Klansman
“This is a deeply researched and passionately told story that speaks to our ongoing need to confront the legacy of America’s original sin of slavery.”
— James M. O’Toole, author of The Faithful: A History of Catholics in America
