By Jessica Washington
It’s no secret that much of this country was built off the backs of enslaved people. From the White House to Wall Street, it’s difficult to find a historical landmark without ties to our nation’s brutal history of slavery. Now, descendants of enslaved people are looking to St. Louis University to settle a major debt. And yes — they have receipts!
A group of economists, descendants, and politicians estimated that the Jesuit institution exploited $361 million-worth of slave labor before inflation. Today, the group argues the school owes over $70 billion to the descendants of people they forced to toil for their profit.
The descendants are represented by well-known civil rights attorney Areva Martin. In a letter to University President Fred Pestello, Martin acknowledged the work the school has done to grapple with their past. The University is also participating in the “Slavery History, Memory and Reconciliation” project. But she argues it’s not enough to just acknowledge their history.
“While St. Louis University’s acknowledgment of its history has been a welcome demonstration of forthrightness, acknowledgments do not make my clients whole,” Martin said in a statement obtained by PBS. “I look forward to working with university leadership to come up with a plan to compensate the descendants for what they are rightfully owed.”
The notion that large tax-exempt Universities should begin paying back the descendants of people they enslaved has picked up steam across the country. For example, Georgetown University, another Jesuit institution built off the labor and sale of enslaved people, and the Jesuits have pledged $27 million toward a reconciliation fund.