ST. LOUIS — On Aug. 28, 2023, members of the Descendants of the St. Louis University Enslaved (DSLUE) non-profit organization launched a petition urging St. Louis University to atone for the enslavement of their ancestors by developing a memorial/monument on the university’s campus.
DSLUE members contend that although descendants had a cordial introductory meeting with President Fred Pestello on Nov. 11, 2021, and this year met with other SLU faculty to discuss the next steps, nothing has been put on the table except for free entry into Billikens basketball games and a table at the annual Martin Luther King breakfast, held in January.
“This is to honor our direct ancestors who helped build St. Louis University,” said Founder and Executive Director of DSLUE, Robin Proudie.
DSLUE, students, and members of the St. Louis community agree it’s long overdue for SLU leadership to formally acknowledge the central role of DSLUE ancestors in the building and sustaining of the institution.
From 2016 to 2019 the Slavery, History, Memory, and Reconciliation Project in St. Louis put together a broad research team and found some pretty astounding facts. In 2019 the project in partnership with SLU and the Jesuits USA Central and Southern Province contacted family members of Henrietta Mills and Charles F. Chauvin.
The data collected shows:
From 1823 to 1865 Proudie’s ancestors helped build St. Louis University, and St. Francis Xavier College Church. According to Proudie Chauvin was enslaved to a local St. Louis woman named Amanda Curtis. The founder and executive director says her ancestors also helped sustain the new university as well as the first mission of the Jesuit in St. Louis, including Jesuit-led schools, churches, and farms in our region.
Proudie also discovered the founder of SLU, Bishop Louis William V. DuBourg, and the first president, Peter Verhaegen, S.J., enslaved her ancestors, and the first eleven presidents owned at least seventy slaves. She also found out that the Jesuits throughout Missouri enslaved 70 of her ancestors beginning with the original six who came here from Maryland in 1823, by 1829 the Jesuits brought 15 more enslaved people to St. Louis; they were all relatives of Proudie. A ledger from 1831 shows the total number of enslaved people owned by the Jesuits in Missouri, 26 of that total are relatives of Proudie.
An article produced by PBS NewsHour states the Society of Jesus, a Roman Catholic order of priests and brothers, and affiliated organizations inside and outside of St. Louis have started to examine its history more closely. The article highlights the long history of Jesuits around the world owning slaves, according to Fr. Jeffrey Harrison, SJ, the project coordinator for the Slavery, History, Memory, and Reconciliation Project in St. Louis–-the research initiative involves the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States, St. Louis University, and the St. Louis African American History and Genealogy Society.
Christopher Tinson, Chair of African American Studies at SLU, worked with the descendants since 2019. “I immediately wanted to help, reparative justice is at the heart of African-American studies. How could I not help,” said Tinson.
He says this is an opportunity for many universities to learn how to properly restore justice to their descendants.
“The university should be accountable to both the history and descendants,”
However, with all the data collected and discussions about some type of reparations, Proudie feels the traumatic history her ancestors experienced is not a priority. She says nothing has changed since the first initial conversation in 2019.
“It was my ancestors that were doing the heavy lifting,” said Proudie. “The 272-acre $1.5 billion institution benefited off the backs of my ancestors and many more”
Micheal Brickey is a Ph.D. student at SLU and a member of the DSLUE advisory board, he says every once in a while the university will put out a statement via email to students and alumni in the context that something tragic has happened in American society in line with some national or federal holiday like Martin Luther King Day.
According to the advisory board member to his knowledge, there isn’t a physical display that educates folks about the history of slavery as it relates to St. Louis University through the relationship with the Jesuits–which is why he got involved with DSLUE.
He understands the sensitivity surrounding the grimmer side of SLU's history, however, he points out that based on the politics of any particular donor everyone is worried about losing money.
“This is a social and cultural issue that has huge political ramifications,” said Brickey.
However, he didn’t miss the opportunity to point out that St. Louis University is a very mission-driven school, ‘Higher Purpose, Greater Good’, these words are on banners all over campus.
“I just want them to be true to their word,” said Brickey.
According to Proudie in 2019 when her family received the historic news, they attended a workshop meeting where the archives were uncovered, unfortunately right when the ball was beginning to roll the COVID-19 pandemic put a halt to almost everything. In 2020 DSLUE had a meeting with Dr. Jonathan Smith, the university’s then-senior leader for diversity, equity, inclusion, and community engagement, who sadly passed in 2021. Things seemed like they were starting to pick back up for the descendants in the Spring of this year when Proudie met with the Discovery Committee, which is a new committee on campus–the founder and executive director says she presented her requirements for reparations and was met with a lack of urgency attitude.
The family is requesting:
A formal public apology
More equity and inclusion on the SLU campus
A monument that honors the family’s ancestors
According to Proudie, the family’s requests have been pushed to the side, she says since she has made known her request to the school’s leadership the Jesuit prioritized a $26 million project for a Jesuit faculty residential facility located on the north campus that broke ground in 2022 and is now completed.
“This makes us feel that all they talked about on their website and different news outlets here is to make the public think are doing something about their ties to slavery,” said Proudie. “Our ancestors have been since 1823 just like the Jesuits.”
DSLUE feels the students of SLU are being cheated out of the history of the institution they are attending.
“This is the perfect opportunity for the university to live up to the mission and creed of a Jesuit school,” said Proudie.
Ashley Winters is a Report for America reporter for the St. Louis American.