1808: The Catholic Church, the Jesuits, and Enslaved People in St. Louis
The history of the Catholic Church, the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), and enslaved people in St. Louis is significant because the Church established itself in the area using slaves as laborers.
By 1818, 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).
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
Source: Wikipedia
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). To read more about Jesuits and their history of enslaved people, visit the “Slavery, History, Memory, and Reconciliation Project” website.