Tea at Trianon: Reconnecting with the Past

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Friday, October 6, 2017

Reconnecting with the Past

For those familiar with the tragic story of how the Jesuits in Georgetown sold their slaves, it is good to know that the descendants of those slaves are now able to trace their roots. From Houmatoday:

Ohio resident Rochell S. Prater said she never had any desire to visit the South. But when she learned she was a descendant of 272 slaves sold by Georgetown University to plantations in Louisiana, she felt compelled to make the trip. “I had never come further south than St. James Parish, but after I found out about this, I’ve been here four times last year and this is my third trip this year,” the 55-year-old said. “To me this is about the survival of the African-American spirit in today’s climate.” Prater was one of dozens of Georgetown slave descendants who gathered today at the Terrebonne Parish North Library to reconnect with other descendants and share information about family lineages.

Co-hosted by the Finding Our Roots African-American Museum, the event gave descendants of the 272 enslaved men, women and children who were sold by Jesuit priests in 1838 to plantations in Louisiana an opportunity to reconnect with their ancestors. Prater learned she is descended from slave Jackson Hawkins, who was about age 3 when his family was sold. Slaves were sold to plantations in Terrebonne, Iberville and Ascension parishes. Proceeds of the sale were used to settle the future Georgetown University’s mounting debts. “This to me is like winning the lottery,” Prater said. “It was crucial for me to be here so I could touch and feel and be a part of this. I have goosebumps right now.”

Napoleonville native Joyce Blizzard said she attended Saturday’s genealogy gathering to connect with her ancestors. “This event is something many of us need to encourage us to look up their ethnicities and family relations,” Blizzard said. “We need more events like this so we can connect to our past.”

Guest speaker Karran Harper Royal, the executive director of the Georgetown University 272 Descendants Association, said the Washington-based university’s connection to slavery attracted national attention after students began protesting two of the school’s buildings that were named after the college presidents involved in the slave sale. The university agreed to remove the names of the Rev. Thomas F. Mulledy and the Rev. William McSherry from the buildings in November. From the ashes of the controversy an ambitious genealogy initiative was launched called the Georgetown Memory Project to locate living descendants of the people sold like commodities in 1838.

Georgetown Memory Project genealogist Judy Riffel said a DNA study has been launched to help find descendants of what have become known as the GU272. Georgetown University said it has granted legacy status to slave descendants as an effort to atone for its participation in the slave trade. Applicants with legacy status, or the children of alumni, receive preferential treatment during admissions. Royal said she was pleased with the university’s response but would like to see more in the months ahead.

“We want to see some provision is made in perpetuity for descendants to always have access to college education that is paid for,” Royal said. “Our organization is working to make that happen. Since our ancestors gave their lives to help prop up that institution, we want to make sure forever moving forward all of their descendants have access to college education without having to go into debt.”

Also speaking at the event was Nicholls State University archivist Clifton Theriot, whose discovery of a photo in 2016 received national attention. Theriot went to the Ellender Memorial Library’s archives and pulled out a 5- by 4-inch album from the early 1900s filled with pictures of Robert Ruffin Barrow Jr.’s plantation home, Robert Grove in Houma, and its staff. At the back of the album, Theriot found three weathered photos of an elderly black man standing behind two young girls in dresses as white as the man’s hair.

“I knew it from somewhere before, so I pulled the album out and started going through the album,” Theriot said. “I found the photograph and put the name together -- it was Frank Campbell.” Campbell’s photo was the first known image of one of the 272 slaves sold by Georgetown University nearly 180 years ago. For descendants Nancy Campbell Evans and her father Earl Campbell, Saturday’s gathering proved that slavery may have split up their ancestors but time has since brought their families back together. (Read more.)