In ‘The 272: The Families Who Were Enslaved and Sold to Build the American Catholic Church,’ Rachel Swarns tells of “one of the largest documented slave sales in the nation,” the Jesuit sale of 272 enslaved persons in 1838.
Racism
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
Jesuits and Georgetown pledge additional $27 million to support descendants of those enslaved by the order
The sale of 272 enslaved persons by the Jesuits in 1838 helped provide financing for the struggling Georgetown University.
Posted inFaith, Faith and Reason
Teilhard de Chardin, racism and eugenics: An exchange
Was Teilhard de Chardin a promoter of eugenics? Two scholars debate the question.
Posted inPolitics & Society, Short Take
Affirmative action is Catholic social teaching in action. We still need it.
Thoughtfully administered affirmative action, as endorsed by the U.S. bishops decades ago, is an incontrovertible part of our shared task to fight racism and promote equal opportunity.
Posted inArts & Culture, Catholic Book Club
Why today’s students should read James Baldwin in school
James Baldwin’s novels and essays loomed large in the 1950s and 1960s, but they have fallen out of favor with teachers in many literature courses. Is it time for a revival of his works?
Posted inFaith, Letters
Letter to the editor: Black women were excluded from religious orders. Catholics need to know this history.
A response by a historian to America’s recent coverage of the path to completion by the Sisters of Charity of New York notes shock and disappointment at the lack of reckoning with the impact of the longstanding anti-Black and anti-brown admissions policies and practices that most European and white American congregations employed.
Posted inFaith in Focus, Politics & Society
Tucker Carlson’s racist text message—and the painful confession it contains
The rest of Tucker Carlson’s racist text betrayed a self-confessional Tucker Carlson I can begin to identify with.
Posted inFaith, Features
Slavery and the Catholic Church: It’s time to correct the historical record
The history of the church was nothing close to a steady, if interrupted, march to eliminate slavery.
Posted inFaith, News
Catholic high school investigates after students post ‘blackface’ video
A Catholic high school in Philadelphia is taking action after several of its students posted a racist social media video that has sparked community protests.
Posted inExplainer, Politics & Society
Mel Gibson and the dangers of Catholic antisemitism
Mel Gibson’s past history of antisemitic remarks and behavior means holding him up as a leader is not only wrong, it’s dangerous.