By Susan Svrluga | Washington Post
Georgetown University and the Jesuits have given $27 million to benefit a foundation helping descendants of enslaved people who were sold to pay off a debt at the school in the 19th century.
The gift is a milestone in an ambitious plan to raise $100 million, and ultimately $1 billion, for the Descendants Truth & Reconciliation Foundation. The private nonprofit organization partnered with the Society of Jesus and the GU272 Descendants Association, which formed in 2016 after the university announced it would apologize for its role in the slave trade.
In 1838, Maryland Jesuits sold 272 people who worked on their plantations, breaking apart families and using the profit to benefit the university. The GU272 Descendants Association represents thousands of people; there are about 13,000 known descendants now, and the number keeps growing.
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