‘I'm coming back home': Descendants of enslaved people join together in St. Mary's County

More than 450 descendants of people who were forcibly enslaved then sold off to Louisiana are getting together in St. Mary’s County for educational meetings and tours of the places their forefathers and mothers were held in captivity.

The meeting is the work of students at Georgetown University, who started research in 2016, and members of The Southern Maryland GU272 Jesuit Enslaved Group.

The groups worked together to track down and link descendants of the more then 272 enslaved people who were owned by Maryland Jesuits in 1838.

For some of the descendants, it was their first time learning about their ancestors and the conditions they lived through.

“We were literally taken away from here, and the family part is that now we get to come back and be family,” said Rochell Prater, executive director of GU272 Descendants Association.

“We talked about history all the time. Never once did we hear anything about Jesuit enslavement of persons. Nothing, ain't nothing. The only reason we figured it out is because of ancestry,” said Julie Hawkins Ennis, co-chair of the Southern Maryland Descendant Gathering Committee.

This weekend marks the inaugural reunion where family members, like Prater, come up from Louisiana, where her ancestors were shipped off to.

“I am from Maringouin, Louisiana," Rochell said. "Now, I am coming back home, and It’s emotional. I can’t really describe what it feels like. With me, I brought eight of my family members."

Henrietta Pike , who is a verified descendant of GU272 and chairperson at The Southern Maryland GU272 Jesuit Enslaved Descendent Gathering, says there is a certain appreciation knowing this history is at her fingertips.

“We are able to look back and we can see our ancestors," Pike said. "I am seeing descendants of ... sisters and brothers that went to Louisiana, so we are connecting now over this weekend and that’s what we’re going to continue to do even after this weekend,” Pike said.