Title:Georgetown Holds Conversations on Legacies of Slavery

Above: Gayle Jessup White, left, a descendant of Thomas Jefferson, listens as Melisánde Short-Colomb (C’21) speaks during a panel discussion at the National Museum of African American History and Culture as part of Georgetown’s April Emancipation Day observances. Short-Colomb is a descendant of Abraham Mahoney and Mary Ellen Queen, who were among the 272 enslaved men, women, and children sold by the Maryland Jesuits in 1838.

In April, at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gayle Jessup White—a descendant of Thomas Jefferson and community engagement officer at Monticello—conversed on stage with Melisánde Short-Colomb (C’21), a descendant of Abraham Mahoney and Mary Ellen Queen, who were among the 272 enslaved men, women, and children sold by the Maryland Jesuits in 1838. Short-Colomb, 64, is in her second year at Georgetown and works in the Georgetown Slavery Archive in the Booth Family Center for Special Collections.

“I know that I am here in this place at this time because those people prayed for me,” Short-Colomb said. “They prayed me into existence. They prayed me into being, and 180 years ago, somebody had a dream, and it was me, and here I am.”

Rev. Brandon Harris, Protestant chaplain at the Law Center and Main Campus, and Heidi Tseu, director of local government affairs, organized the event, “We Choose to Remember: A Conversation on the Legacies of Slavery,” to reflect on racial justice 50 years after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. This and other events commemorating King’s assassination fell within the university’s “Let Freedom Ring!” Initiative, named after King’s 1968 speech, “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop.” The initiative opened dialogues around urgent problems requiring social action and explored Georgetown’s capacity for social change.

“The 50th anniversary marks a watershed moment that has sparked an outcry across not only our country but the world, and particularly Washington, D.C., and Georgetown,” says Andria Wisler, executive director of the Center for Social Justice Research, Teaching, and Service, who co-chaired the overall initiative with Patricia Grant, senior associate dean for the undergraduate program in the McDonough School of Business.

The roster of commemorative events wove together activism and art through teach-ins, music, and worship services, unarmed-civilian protection trainings, a virtual-reality immersive experience on mass incarceration and solitary confinement, book talks, film screenings, spoken-word poetry performances, and expert-panel discussions spanning the historical to the contemporary.

“If you are afraid of history, can you please account for the harm you are doing today?” said Marcia Chatelain, provost’s distinguished associate professor in the history department, at the April event. “For those people who are descended from the slaves of Georgetown, this is not a perfect puzzle piece. The pieces are torn and tattered. But they can still fit together. Georgetown is providing us a place to confront the hard truths of history.”