April 10, 2025 • 17 mins
Dr. Vanessa Tyler has a conversation with Robin Proudie, Founder and Executive Director of the Descendants of the St. Louis University Enslaved (DSLUE). Through the discovery of tireless research and documentation, the DSLUE seeks to enlighten people about Saint Louis University and the Jesuits' ties to the institution of slavery in the 1800's.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the endowed chairs and professors
and faculty of Saint Louis University.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Prestige, Tradition, Pride, the latest commencement ceremony at Saint Louis
University in Missouri. But like nearly all US institutions, there
is slavery deep in the soil. Now what's rising from
the ground of places like Saint Louis University the historical
truth of the free labor of black people.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
And we were here since its inception when William de
Burgh he was the first bishop. He was the founder
of Saint Louis Academy, which in turn turned into Saint
Louis University. That was here and from the very beginning,
our ancestors were here.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Now it's time to reap what they sowed in Blackland.
Speaker 4 (00:55):
And now as a brown person, you just feel so invisible.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Where we're from.
Speaker 5 (01:03):
Brothers and sisters, are welcome you to this joyful zaiya.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
We celebrate freedom.
Speaker 6 (01:07):
Where we are, I know someone heard something and where
we're going.
Speaker 4 (01:14):
We the people means all the people.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
The Black Information Network presents Blackland with your host Vanessa Tyler.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Every part of this country's history is touched by America's shame,
so no surprise that men of God had slaves. In fact,
the Jesuits built their institutions on the backs of black people,
black people who to this day can find their branch
on the family tree of history. Robin Proudy is the
executive director of the Descendants of the Saint Louis University Enslaved,
(01:47):
better known as dislou Robin.
Speaker 4 (01:49):
Welcome, Hi, Vanessa, Thank you for having me. We know
slavey fueled America's wealth. How did the Jesuits play into
this and how many people did they slave?
Speaker 6 (02:00):
Well?
Speaker 3 (02:02):
Research shows that the Society of Jesus or Jesuits, have
been enslaving people around the world since their origins. In
around fifteen forty three, over a thousand enslaved black people
they owned in trafficked.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
It's in their records, who was bought and sold how much.
Saint Louis University decided to research this and found descendants
in today's America.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
I learned the connection to my ancestors that were enslaved
by the Jesuits.
Speaker 6 (02:37):
In twenty nineteen.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
At the time, I was living in the Washington, DC area,
and I received a letter from the Slavery History, Memory
and Reconciliation Project that was a joint initiative between the
Society of Jesus and Saint Louis University in Saint Louis, Missouri.
They decided to study their ties to slavery. So from
(03:03):
twenty sixteen to twenty nineteen they did the research and
in the Jesuit with archives archives at the archdiocese here
and at Saint Louis University, they began to find names
of people that were, you know, on ledgers, on manifests,
bill of sales, and these.
Speaker 6 (03:22):
People were our ancestors.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
So that letter detailed all of that, and they asked
me and those of the descendants in Missouri to come
in and this was in twenty nineteen twenty twenty to
share this information. And then of course COVID happened, things
kind of slowed down, and because my elders here could
(03:46):
not go in, you know, I decided to hop on
line like we are virtually and continue this work with
the researchers. So that is how I got involved extensively.
And it was just fascin what I began to see.
Speaker 6 (04:02):
And when you began to see.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
The names of your the people in your bloodline. It
is just a life changing experience.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
Robin Proudy says, the Jesuits business records, including the human
property detailed to history. She never knew. Records traits back
to three couples the Jesuits brought over from Maryland to
work the land in Saint Louis the year eighteen twenty three.
Tom and Polly, Moses and Nancy, Isaac and Suki her ancestors.
(04:34):
Free sweat equity is deep in the university.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
So mother Henrietta Mills, my grandmother's great grandmother, she was
born into slavery. She married our great grandfather, Charles F. Chavon,
and they had ten children. The first three were born
into slavery, but her last son, Lewis Chavon, were All
the sons were musicians, were talented musicians, but Lewis was
(05:04):
a little bit more special. Even my grandmother's grandfather, Lincoln,
we come from the Lincoln was the eighth grandchild. And
you notice they named him Lincoln after A Raham Lincoln,
after the emancipation right. And so that's our great my
grandmother's grandfather, And but Lewis was the He was born
(05:25):
in eighteen eighty four. He was considered one of the
best musicians ragtime at the time in Saint Louis, and
he did a song with Scott Joplin, well known Scott Joplin.
They did a they composed a song called the Hellium
Trope Bouquet. It would be classified as a hit record
(05:46):
of platinum record today.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
That was huge legendary Black composer. Scott Joplin called the
father of ragtime, and her talented relative Lewis chauven teamed
up for a song that was the sound of the times.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
And yes, he was considered a jazz grade. He's in
several books about I mean they said they ushered in
jazz through ragtime. It was the only African American at
that time. They called him mulatto person. In the nineteen
oh four Worlds Fur where we have archives where he
(06:24):
won the gold medal, they said, Shavin wins the beautiful,
beautiful gold medal as the pianist for a musical contest
that he won.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Her other ancestors, not as famous, also leaves behind a legacy.
A thriving institution of higher learning.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Saint Louis University has a one point seven billion dollar endowment.
Speaker 6 (06:46):
They have several investment properties.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
They just invested in a I think it's one hundred
and seventy room building apartment, luxury apartments, and they have
you know, it's a two hundred and seventy two acre campus.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
So now what how should the university repair what was taken?
Speaker 3 (07:09):
A friend of mine, Professor davari In Baldwin, wrote a
book called In the Shadow of the Ivory Tower, How
Universities Plunder Our Cities, And once I read that book,
it really helped to solidify my advocacy in advocating for
repair from Saint Louis University because I saw, even after enslavement,
(07:34):
how they continue to capitalize and benefit off our communities.
So we wanted to honor our ancestors by preserving the history.
We wanted to educate the public because this is so important,
and we wanted to engage and advocate for repair.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
It looked like they were on their way to do
just that. There would be a public apology, the media
would cover it, but something happened to call it miscommunication,
maybe even a sign of the times. With universities nationwide
and the crosshairs of politics, anything involving black people scrutinized.
But no one saw this coming and it was public.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
As a symbol of breaking the covenant of enslavement, of separation,
of family dysfunction, all.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
Of the love that's from a dislute dinner to honor
the black ancestors and the elders relatives vowed to make
it right. They had been working with Saint Louis University
since the university reached out about five years ago with
the surprising news the free labor of their ancestors built
the institution.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
We had meetings and we came up on our tendpoint plan.
The first point was a formal apology. So when they
began to set a date for that, and we were
very excited, and we also talked about the other how
we would approach this process, have rigorous discussions about each
(09:10):
of our points, meet with the Board of trustees to
each board date. And so when we set this date
for the apology, which was March twenty six, twenty five,
we had meetings.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
Repairing the pain was not as smooth as planned, Robin
Prowdy says, with some of their issues being overlooked, and
she says the university taking a position that surprised them
just hours before the public apology. Descendants would not get
what they were hoping for.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
And they approved the apology a monument, and then they
said everything else is off the table of cash payments.
And they said they were going to do a report,
institutional report, but every institution does the report that they conducted.
(10:05):
And we were I said, okay, so you guys made
this is your commitment period. This is what she said, Yes,
this is what the university is committing to.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Which resulted in a bit of breaking news sendence of
slaves are calling out Saint Louis University after plans for
a public apology fell through.
Speaker 5 (10:26):
The university canceled a prayer service where it was expected
to share an apology for participating in slavery. This comes
after a group of slave descendants took issue with the
school's message.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
The public prayer service was off.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
So we thought about why would they do that, and
we just we needed some answers, and so we decided
until we do, we didn't feel we just couldn't move
forward in good faith at this time.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
Those relatives who flew into Saint Louis to hear the
apology all these years later returned home, no apology, no
agreement to their ten point reparation plan.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
There are a lot of universities that are studying their
tithes to slavery.
Speaker 6 (11:08):
They've moved on.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
Some have put up monuments and did have done different
reconciliation efforts, but no one has really did a report
or study to analyze the costs of the labor.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
Other Jesuit schools used slave labor, including Georgetown and Loyola Universities.
DESOLU did calculate the cost at Saint Louis. The estimate
of slave labor astonishing.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
And they came up with that cost from eighteen twenty
three to eighteen sixty five seventy ancestors that were trafficked
at that time, and that came out to be three
hundred and sixty million on the low end, and with interest,
seventy four billion of what that cost would be.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
Everything now is very much colored by the Trump administration.
And I'm just wondering whether you know universities are scared
to death. Yes, it's got a threat hanging over their
heads for federal funding for just any infraction. And I'm
just wondering, did you feel a change of heart lately?
Speaker 6 (12:17):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (12:18):
And you know what, being a person who keeps abreast
of everything that's going on. I'm a Navy veteran, I
worked in intel at the Pentagon for years and I
always so I took that into consideration. I understood that fear.
But at the same time, this is not a DEI project.
Speaker 6 (12:40):
I mean it really is.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
It's a one people group harmed another, one community harmed another.
Speaker 6 (12:49):
It's a human rights it's not. This is how I
see it.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
We understood that that could have been the change, because
it did change, uh somewhat. We've been waiting for five
years and it's always something, and it was COVID at first,
then it was but during COVID they told us it
was COVID.
Speaker 6 (13:08):
But yet they still managed.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
To build a twenty bedroom, five guest bedroom, twenty seven
million dollar Jesuit residential facility on the campus of the
university for the Jesuit faculty doing COVID. It took them
less than what eighteen months and they moved in. We
had talked to the president at that same time in
(13:30):
twenty twenty one, and that's what they were doing. But
for us, it has always been something. But you can't,
you know, in the last hour, just do things and
it's going to That doesn't bridge, that doesn't build trust.
Speaker 6 (13:46):
We've been through a lot as a community and we
are waiting for.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
Them to really step up, and we're not going to
be used as a photo op.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
In a statement, the university acknowledged there is more work
to do with the families who demand not just an apology,
but cash payments, a monument, scholarships and more. After all,
this university stands on the backs of the generations of
resilient black people from the past. What does it do
to you, guys inside when you look at the buildings
(14:20):
your ancestors.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
Goodness, I'm working on a like a documentary and I
talk about and I'm literally really seriously, when I just
walk around at campus, I feel them.
Speaker 6 (14:34):
I feel, you know, I feel.
Speaker 3 (14:37):
The presence of my ancestors. I feel the church that
we were going to have the ceremony in that church
is a new church built after emancipation. But my great
great aunt, Matilda Tyler, who was Henrietta Mills's aunt, she
actually in eighteen forty seven. By that time she was
(15:03):
married to another enslaved person, and she had fought seven children.
Her two daughters unfortunately passed through because of the rigors
of what she had to do, But she worked from
eighteen forty seven to eighteen fifty seven and paid the
Jesuits for not only her freedom but all her five
(15:25):
boy's freedom. And I have in the minutes when they
freed them, their emancipation documents, and on the ledger when
you show fifty dollars today eighteen forty nine, eighteen thirty
dollars three hundred dollars, which is like nine thousand dollars
in today's money, it says Matilda servant to be freed
(15:48):
upon paying this amount, and this money will be appropriated
to Saint Francis Xavier College Church. So all that money
was appropriated to build this new, beautiful uh church that
we were actually going to have the you know, uh
(16:09):
have the apology in. And so that was just going
to be a rewarding thing to have her descendants standing
near and they the university apologizing for enslaving them. The
home was multi dimensional and so should be the repair.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
While Robin Proudy of dislou the descendants of Saint Louis
University enslaved. Thank you for telling your story, really our story.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
Oh thank you so much for letting our voices shine
and tell these stories.
Speaker 6 (16:46):
It's so important. Thank you Vanessa, in.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
Your heart, in your podcast, Sally takes a College to
the Ancestors.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
Be sure to like and subscribe to Blackland. I'm Vanessa Tyler.
I will have a new episode next week
Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the endowed chairs and professors
and faculty of Saint Louis University.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Prestige, Tradition, Pride, the latest commencement ceremony at Saint Louis
University in Missouri. But like nearly all US institutions, there
is slavery deep in the soil. Now what's rising from
the ground of places like Saint Louis University the historical
truth of the free labor of black people.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
And we were here since its inception when William de
Burgh he was the first bishop. He was the founder
of Saint Louis Academy, which in turn turned into Saint
Louis University. That was here and from the very beginning,
our ancestors were here.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Now it's time to reap what they sowed in Blackland.
Speaker 4 (00:55):
And now as a brown person, you just feel so invisible.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Where we're from.
Speaker 5 (01:03):
Brothers and sisters, are welcome you to this joyful zaiya.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
We celebrate freedom.
Speaker 6 (01:07):
Where we are, I know someone heard something and where
we're going.
Speaker 4 (01:14):
We the people means all the people.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
The Black Information Network presents Blackland with your host Vanessa Tyler.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Every part of this country's history is touched by America's shame,
so no surprise that men of God had slaves. In fact,
the Jesuits built their institutions on the backs of black people,
black people who to this day can find their branch
on the family tree of history. Robin Proudy is the
executive director of the Descendants of the Saint Louis University Enslaved,
(01:47):
better known as dislou Robin.
Speaker 4 (01:49):
Welcome, Hi, Vanessa, Thank you for having me. We know
slavey fueled America's wealth. How did the Jesuits play into
this and how many people did they slave?
Speaker 6 (02:00):
Well?
Speaker 3 (02:02):
Research shows that the Society of Jesus or Jesuits, have
been enslaving people around the world since their origins. In
around fifteen forty three, over a thousand enslaved black people
they owned in trafficked.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
It's in their records, who was bought and sold how much.
Saint Louis University decided to research this and found descendants
in today's America.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
I learned the connection to my ancestors that were enslaved
by the Jesuits.
Speaker 6 (02:37):
In twenty nineteen.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
At the time, I was living in the Washington, DC area,
and I received a letter from the Slavery History, Memory
and Reconciliation Project that was a joint initiative between the
Society of Jesus and Saint Louis University in Saint Louis, Missouri.
They decided to study their ties to slavery. So from
(03:03):
twenty sixteen to twenty nineteen they did the research and
in the Jesuit with archives archives at the archdiocese here
and at Saint Louis University, they began to find names
of people that were, you know, on ledgers, on manifests,
bill of sales, and these.
Speaker 6 (03:22):
People were our ancestors.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
So that letter detailed all of that, and they asked
me and those of the descendants in Missouri to come
in and this was in twenty nineteen twenty twenty to
share this information. And then of course COVID happened, things
kind of slowed down, and because my elders here could
(03:46):
not go in, you know, I decided to hop on
line like we are virtually and continue this work with
the researchers. So that is how I got involved extensively.
And it was just fascin what I began to see.
Speaker 6 (04:02):
And when you began to see.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
The names of your the people in your bloodline. It
is just a life changing experience.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
Robin Proudy says, the Jesuits business records, including the human
property detailed to history. She never knew. Records traits back
to three couples the Jesuits brought over from Maryland to
work the land in Saint Louis the year eighteen twenty three.
Tom and Polly, Moses and Nancy, Isaac and Suki her ancestors.
(04:34):
Free sweat equity is deep in the university.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
So mother Henrietta Mills, my grandmother's great grandmother, she was
born into slavery. She married our great grandfather, Charles F. Chavon,
and they had ten children. The first three were born
into slavery, but her last son, Lewis Chavon, were All
the sons were musicians, were talented musicians, but Lewis was
(05:04):
a little bit more special. Even my grandmother's grandfather, Lincoln,
we come from the Lincoln was the eighth grandchild. And
you notice they named him Lincoln after A Raham Lincoln,
after the emancipation right. And so that's our great my
grandmother's grandfather, And but Lewis was the He was born
(05:25):
in eighteen eighty four. He was considered one of the
best musicians ragtime at the time in Saint Louis, and
he did a song with Scott Joplin, well known Scott Joplin.
They did a they composed a song called the Hellium
Trope Bouquet. It would be classified as a hit record
(05:46):
of platinum record today.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
That was huge legendary Black composer. Scott Joplin called the
father of ragtime, and her talented relative Lewis chauven teamed
up for a song that was the sound of the times.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
And yes, he was considered a jazz grade. He's in
several books about I mean they said they ushered in
jazz through ragtime. It was the only African American at
that time. They called him mulatto person. In the nineteen
oh four Worlds Fur where we have archives where he
(06:24):
won the gold medal, they said, Shavin wins the beautiful,
beautiful gold medal as the pianist for a musical contest
that he won.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Her other ancestors, not as famous, also leaves behind a legacy.
A thriving institution of higher learning.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Saint Louis University has a one point seven billion dollar endowment.
Speaker 6 (06:46):
They have several investment properties.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
They just invested in a I think it's one hundred
and seventy room building apartment, luxury apartments, and they have
you know, it's a two hundred and seventy two acre campus.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
So now what how should the university repair what was taken?
Speaker 3 (07:09):
A friend of mine, Professor davari In Baldwin, wrote a
book called In the Shadow of the Ivory Tower, How
Universities Plunder Our Cities, And once I read that book,
it really helped to solidify my advocacy in advocating for
repair from Saint Louis University because I saw, even after enslavement,
(07:34):
how they continue to capitalize and benefit off our communities.
So we wanted to honor our ancestors by preserving the history.
We wanted to educate the public because this is so important,
and we wanted to engage and advocate for repair.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
It looked like they were on their way to do
just that. There would be a public apology, the media
would cover it, but something happened to call it miscommunication,
maybe even a sign of the times. With universities nationwide
and the crosshairs of politics, anything involving black people scrutinized.
But no one saw this coming and it was public.
Speaker 3 (08:17):
As a symbol of breaking the covenant of enslavement, of separation,
of family dysfunction, all.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
Of the love that's from a dislute dinner to honor
the black ancestors and the elders relatives vowed to make
it right. They had been working with Saint Louis University
since the university reached out about five years ago with
the surprising news the free labor of their ancestors built
the institution.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
We had meetings and we came up on our tendpoint plan.
The first point was a formal apology. So when they
began to set a date for that, and we were
very excited, and we also talked about the other how
we would approach this process, have rigorous discussions about each
(09:10):
of our points, meet with the Board of trustees to
each board date. And so when we set this date
for the apology, which was March twenty six, twenty five,
we had meetings.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
Repairing the pain was not as smooth as planned, Robin
Prowdy says, with some of their issues being overlooked, and
she says the university taking a position that surprised them
just hours before the public apology. Descendants would not get
what they were hoping for.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
And they approved the apology a monument, and then they
said everything else is off the table of cash payments.
And they said they were going to do a report,
institutional report, but every institution does the report that they conducted.
(10:05):
And we were I said, okay, so you guys made
this is your commitment period. This is what she said, Yes,
this is what the university is committing to.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Which resulted in a bit of breaking news sendence of
slaves are calling out Saint Louis University after plans for
a public apology fell through.
Speaker 5 (10:26):
The university canceled a prayer service where it was expected
to share an apology for participating in slavery. This comes
after a group of slave descendants took issue with the
school's message.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
The public prayer service was off.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
So we thought about why would they do that, and
we just we needed some answers, and so we decided
until we do, we didn't feel we just couldn't move
forward in good faith at this time.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
Those relatives who flew into Saint Louis to hear the
apology all these years later returned home, no apology, no
agreement to their ten point reparation plan.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
There are a lot of universities that are studying their
tithes to slavery.
Speaker 6 (11:08):
They've moved on.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
Some have put up monuments and did have done different
reconciliation efforts, but no one has really did a report
or study to analyze the costs of the labor.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
Other Jesuit schools used slave labor, including Georgetown and Loyola Universities.
DESOLU did calculate the cost at Saint Louis. The estimate
of slave labor astonishing.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
And they came up with that cost from eighteen twenty
three to eighteen sixty five seventy ancestors that were trafficked
at that time, and that came out to be three
hundred and sixty million on the low end, and with interest,
seventy four billion of what that cost would be.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
Everything now is very much colored by the Trump administration.
And I'm just wondering whether you know universities are scared
to death. Yes, it's got a threat hanging over their
heads for federal funding for just any infraction. And I'm
just wondering, did you feel a change of heart lately?
Speaker 6 (12:17):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (12:18):
And you know what, being a person who keeps abreast
of everything that's going on. I'm a Navy veteran, I
worked in intel at the Pentagon for years and I
always so I took that into consideration. I understood that fear.
But at the same time, this is not a DEI project.
Speaker 6 (12:40):
I mean it really is.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
It's a one people group harmed another, one community harmed another.
Speaker 6 (12:49):
It's a human rights it's not. This is how I
see it.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
We understood that that could have been the change, because
it did change, uh somewhat. We've been waiting for five
years and it's always something, and it was COVID at first,
then it was but during COVID they told us it
was COVID.
Speaker 6 (13:08):
But yet they still managed.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
To build a twenty bedroom, five guest bedroom, twenty seven
million dollar Jesuit residential facility on the campus of the
university for the Jesuit faculty doing COVID. It took them
less than what eighteen months and they moved in. We
had talked to the president at that same time in
(13:30):
twenty twenty one, and that's what they were doing. But
for us, it has always been something. But you can't,
you know, in the last hour, just do things and
it's going to That doesn't bridge, that doesn't build trust.
Speaker 6 (13:46):
We've been through a lot as a community and we
are waiting for.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
Them to really step up, and we're not going to
be used as a photo op.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
In a statement, the university acknowledged there is more work
to do with the families who demand not just an apology,
but cash payments, a monument, scholarships and more. After all,
this university stands on the backs of the generations of
resilient black people from the past. What does it do
to you, guys inside when you look at the buildings
(14:20):
your ancestors.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
Goodness, I'm working on a like a documentary and I
talk about and I'm literally really seriously, when I just
walk around at campus, I feel them.
Speaker 6 (14:34):
I feel, you know, I feel.
Speaker 3 (14:37):
The presence of my ancestors. I feel the church that
we were going to have the ceremony in that church
is a new church built after emancipation. But my great
great aunt, Matilda Tyler, who was Henrietta Mills's aunt, she
actually in eighteen forty seven. By that time she was
(15:03):
married to another enslaved person, and she had fought seven children.
Her two daughters unfortunately passed through because of the rigors
of what she had to do, But she worked from
eighteen forty seven to eighteen fifty seven and paid the
Jesuits for not only her freedom but all her five
(15:25):
boy's freedom. And I have in the minutes when they
freed them, their emancipation documents, and on the ledger when
you show fifty dollars today eighteen forty nine, eighteen thirty
dollars three hundred dollars, which is like nine thousand dollars
in today's money, it says Matilda servant to be freed
(15:48):
upon paying this amount, and this money will be appropriated
to Saint Francis Xavier College Church. So all that money
was appropriated to build this new, beautiful uh church that
we were actually going to have the you know, uh
(16:09):
have the apology in. And so that was just going
to be a rewarding thing to have her descendants standing
near and they the university apologizing for enslaving them. The
home was multi dimensional and so should be the repair.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
While Robin Proudy of dislou the descendants of Saint Louis
University enslaved. Thank you for telling your story, really our story.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
Oh thank you so much for letting our voices shine
and tell these stories.
Speaker 6 (16:46):
It's so important. Thank you Vanessa, in.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
Your heart, in your podcast, Sally takes a College to
the Ancestors.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
Be sure to like and subscribe to Blackland. I'm Vanessa Tyler.
I will have a new episode next week
Host
Vanessa Tyler
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