page_title: 1838 Jesuit slave sale
section_title: Building renamings
hierarchical_section_title: 1838 Jesuit slave sale / Legacy / Building renamings
caption_attribution_description: English: Isaac Hawkins Hall, formerly Mulledy Hall and Freedom Hall, at Georgetown University
context_page_description: In 1838, 272 men, women, and children were sold by the Maryland Jesuits; a portion of the proceeds was used to pay the debts of Georgetown College, also run by the Jesuits. The slaves had lived on plantations belonging to the Jesuits in Maryland, and they were sold to Henry Johnson and Jesse Batey. The sale price was $115,000, equivalent to $2,761,078 in 2019. Of the $25,000 down-payment, $17,000 was used to pay down building debt that Thomas F. Mulledy, the provincial superior who orchestrated the sale, had accrued as president of Georgetown College.
  The slaves sold by the Jesuits were part of the West Oak and Chatham Plantations, in Louisiana, both of which would later change ownership. None of the terms for the sale, directed from the Catholic Church leadership in Rome, was met. These terms included that there be no familial separation, that the proceeds not be used to pay debt or the operating expenses of the college, and that the religious practice of the enslaved people be supported.
context_section_description: After the revelation around the slave sale gained wider publicity, the university decided to rename two buildings that bore the names of two Jesuits at Georgetown who had played significant roles in the 1838 sale, Thomas Mulledy and William McSherry. In November 2015, Mulledy Hall was renamed Freedom Hall and McSherry Hall was renamed Remembrance Hall as temporary measures while other names were being considered. In 2017, the two buildings were rededicated in the names of Isaac, the first slave listed in the 1838 sale document, and Anne Marie Becraft, a free woman of color who established a school in Georgetown for black girls.
caption: Isaac Hawkins Hall, formerly Mulledy Hall and Freedom Hall, at Georgetown University
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