Watch: April 18 Liturgy, Building Dedications on Historical Ties to Slavery

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April 14, 2017 – Georgetown, in partnership with the Archdiocese of Washington and the Society of Jesus in the United States, will hold a religious ceremony and building dedication on April 18 in honor of the 272 enslaved men, women and children sold by Maryland Jesuits in 1838.
The Liturgy of Remembrance, Contrition, and Hope will take place at 10 a.m. in Gaston Hall as part of the day’s events, which will be attended by descendants of the enslaved people as well as members of the university community and the general public.
The liturgy will include Bishop Barry Knestout of Washington; Rev. Robert Hussey, S.J., Provincial of the Maryland Province Jesuits; and Rev. Timothy Kesicki, S.J., president of the Jesuit Conference, the organization that represents the Society of Jesus in the United States and Canada.
The event will be webcast live. Those who would like to attend may register.
Following the religious ceremony, the university will dedicate two campus buildings for Isaac Hawkins and Anne Marie Becraft. These halls were formerly named for two Jesuits involved in the 1838 sale to Louisiana plantation owners.
Isaac Hawkins Hall, formerly known as Mulledy Hall and provisionally named as Freedom Hall in 2015, will be named for the first enslaved person listed in documents related to the 1838 sale.
Anne Marie Becraft Hall, formerly known as McSherry Hall and provisionally named in 2015 as Remembrance Hall, will be renamed for a free woman of color who established a school in the town of Georgetown for black girls. The school was one of the first such educational endeavors in the District of Columbia.
She later joined the Oblate Sisters of Providence, the oldest active Roman Catholic sisterhood in the Americas established by women of African descent.
Also scheduled for April 18 is a reflection hour and lunch reception aand other events to honor the descendants and reflect on Georgetown’s historical ties ...

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