A national traveling exhibition about enslaved people debuts in St. Paul at the University of St. Thomas.
The self-guided exhibition blends archival records, historical photographs, interactive media, and descendant and Jesuit testimony to examine how the stories of the enslaved were lost, rediscovered, and reclaimed across generations.
The self-guided exhibition blends archival records, historical photographs, interactive media, and descendant and Jesuit testimony to examine how the stories of the enslaved were lost, rediscovered, and reclaimed across generations.
Visitors will meet the enslaved by name and learn their stories and how this history lives on today.
What We Inherit: Truth, Repair, and a Promise to the Future is a new traveling exhibition telling the story of the 314 Black men, women, and children sold by the Jesuits in 1838 — and of the Descendants and Jesuits working together today to repair the living harm of that history.
“My ancestors in this exhibit were enslaved and sold by Jesuit priests,” said Monique Trusclair Maddox, President and CEO of the Descendants Truth & Reconciliation Foundation. “Because the world that enslavement helped build is the world we all live in, What We Inherit isn’t a Black story or a Catholic story — it’s the story of our American inheritance.”
The exhibition is being hosted by the University of St. Thomas’s Racial Justice Initiative.
“We are tremendously excited about this exhibit and about the partnership with the Descendants of Truth and Reconciliation Foundation that made it possible,” said Dr. Yohuru Williams, Distinguished University Chair, Professor of History, and Founding Director of the Racial Justice Initiative at the University of St. Thomas.
A discussion about how to confront difficult histories without becoming captive to them will take place during a panel on November 2 moderated by University of St. Thomas President Rob Vischer.
The event will be available both in-person and online. To learn more about this free event, log on here.
Information and an accompanying curriculum for middle and high school teachers have also been created.
"What We Inherit" will travel to museums, universities, libraries and community spaces nationwide.
