Religious Institutions and Their Role
Religious colleges and seminaries played a complicated part in the history of slavery in American higher education. Many, including prominent Catholic and Protestant schools, relied on enslaved labor to build and maintain their campuses or accepted significant funding from slaveholding families.
One notable case is Georgetown University, where Jesuit leaders sold hundreds of enslaved people to save the institution from financial ruin. This history illustrates how religious ideals were often at odds with economic necessity. Learn more about Georgetown’s legacy.
