1808: The Catholic Church, the Jesuits, and Enslaved People in St. Louis
Big Idea
The Catholic Church, specifically the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), used enslaved people in St. Louis as forced laborers to build and maintain their farms and schools. Enslaved Black men and women used religion and religious practices as a means of resistance and hope.
What’s important to know?
Enslaved Persons & the Catholic Church: The Catholic Church, specifically the Jesuits, used enslaved people from Maryland to help finance and build their farms, houses, and Saint Louis University, in Missouri.
African Americans & Religion: African Americans were enslaved by religious leaders and followers and often forced to “convert” to Christianity. They also embraced aspects of Christian Scriptures as a means of resisting and defying the very people who were enslaving them.
1: Enslaved Persons & the Catholic Church
Jesuit Stations Map
A map of Jesuit stations in Maryland from the 17th to the 19th centuries, showing the locations of Jesuit plantations, farms, and schools, including Bohemia, Frederick, Georgetown, Leonardtown, Newtown, Port Tobacco, St. Inigoes, St. Joseph, St. Thomas, Wshington, White Marsh, and Woodstock.
Thomas Hughes, History of the Society of Jesus in North America, Text: Vol. 2 (New York: Longmans, Green, & Company, 1917), p. 735
Image Source: Wikipedia
In St. Louis, enslaved people labored to construct buildings, farm land, and wash laundry in service to Catholic priests (Schmidt et al., 2021). In 1823 “six enslaved people…were forced from the Jesuit plantation in Maryland to Missouri,” and these slaves, along with others purchased by the Jesuits, constructed the original buildings that became Saint Louis University (Schmidt et al., 2021).
These are the names of the enslaved people the Jesuits brought with them from Maryland:
Thomas Brown
Mary Brown
Moses Queen
Nancy Queen
Isaac Queen Hawkins
Susan Queen-Hawkins
Matilda Tyler (Sent after the original six from Maryland to the St. Louis area.)
Henrietta Mills (Sent after the original six from Maryland to the St. Louis area.)
Click here to read their individual stories.
Though enslaved people owned by the Catholic Church and the Jesuits sued for their freedom, most of them remained in service to the Order. Many of them endured horrendous living conditions, and even “suffered physical abuse and on occasion sexual abuse by their Jesuit owners and others” (Schmidt et al., 2021). After slavery was abolished in Missouri in January 1865, formerly enslaved people remained in dubious working relationships with the Catholic Church and the Jesuits through labor contracts (Schmidt et al., 2021).
2: African Americans & Religion
Frederick Douglass
Image Source: Wikipedia.
Enslaved Africans developed different traditions around the use of religion in their personal and social lives. While it was used as a tool of oppression by White farmers and some religious leaders, it was equally used by Black men and women as a form of resistance, humanization, and hope.
Many spirituals were adapted by enslaved Africans as a means of resistance. Frederick Douglass (1855) noted this in his book, My Bondage and My Freedom, when he wrote,
“[A] keen observer might have detected in our repeated singing of ‘O Canaan, sweet Canaan, I am bound for the land of Canaan,’ something more than a hope of reaching heaven. We meant to reach the north, and the north was our Canaan” (p. 278).
The White enslavers sought to use conversion to Christianity as a further means of control. Black people found in the Christian Scriptures stories and themes deeply resonate with their experience that provided them with metaphors and means of further resisting enslavement.
Listen
Want to learn more? Listen to African American spirituals at the Library of Congress.
Your Turn
How did religious organizations justify enslaving Black people? How are they addressing this injustice today? How did enslaved Black people turn religious oppression around to become a tool of resistance and hope?
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To read more about Jesuits and their history of enslaved people, visit the “Slavery, History, Memory, and Reconciliation Project” website.
Read: Kelly Schmidt’s article: “Regulations for Our Black People”: Reconstructing the Experiences of Enslaved People in the United States through Jesuit Records.
Materials from the Library of Congress highlighting different arguments various religious organizations made for or against the enslavement of Black people.
Pew Research Center on African American religious practices throughout American history.
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Materials for educators related to the Jesuits and slavery.
Additional primary sources for classroom use.
Materials for teaching about enslaved persons and religion in early America from the National Humanities Center.
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General Resources:
Read about the work of the descendants of enslaved persons at Saint Louis University.
Washington University in St. Louis article on their work to reconcile with their past.
Books & Articles:
Millett, N., ed. and Parker, C H. ed. (2022). Jesuits and Race: A Global History of Continuity and Change, 1530-2020. University of New Mexico Press.
SLU Museum - Collection of the Western Jesuit Missions
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Raboteau, A. (2008). Immigration and Religion in America: Comparative and Historical Perspectives, co-edited with Richard Alba and Josh DeWind. New York University Press.
——-. (2004). Slave Religion: The "Invisible Institution" in the Antebellum South. Oxford University Press.
Wilmore, G. (1988). Black Religion and Black Radicalism: An Interpretation of the Religious History of African Americans. Orbis.
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Douglass, F. (2003, reprint). My Bondage and My Freedom. Penguin Books.
Schmidt, J. S., Ayan Ali, Billy Critchley-Menor, Sean Ferguson, and Claire Peterson (2021). Jesuits: Slavery, History, Memory, and Reconciliation Project. Saint Louis University Core Curriculum Packet.