April 2025 Newsletter
Dear Descendant Community,
We are proud to share updates on the progress we’ve made in our ongoing efforts to unite and empower our community. With exciting plans in motion for 2025, this year will see many remarkable achievements.
Identifying, Unifying, and Certifying: Strengthening Our Foundation
In 2024, we made significant strides in identifying, unifying, and certifying our members. The Certification Committee has diligently reviewed applications weekly, resulting in the certification or pending certification of individuals from Descendant groups in Grand Coteau, Louisiana, Kentucky, Maryland, and Missouri. Certification provides access to valuable programs from the Descendants Truth & Reconciliation Foundation (DTRF), offering further opportunities for growth and connection.
Additionally, we are working to identify ancestral lineages and build a comprehensive database, which will be available to all certified members. This resource will be crucial in helping our community trace and celebrate our shared heritage. Looking ahead, we plan to host at least two Unifying Gatherings in 2025, where Descendants can connect, learn, and celebrate our collective journey.
Redesigning the Website: A Modern Digital Experience
Our efforts to enhance the digital experience for our community continue with the redesign of our website. A dedicated team has been working on creating a new, user-friendly website that will align with our updated branding. We anticipate the new website will be ready in the first half of the year, providing an improved platform for communication, resources, and community engagement.
Partnership with the Descendants Truth & Reconciliation Foundation
Our partnership with the DTRF has been instrumental in advancing our shared goals. In 2024, the DTRF Scholarship Program launched to great success, with strong interest from the community. We are excited to continue this partnership into 2025, as DTRF is working on additional programs that will benefit our members. Keep an eye out for future updates on these initiatives, as they will play a key role in enriching the Descendant Community.
As always, we are grateful for your continued support and engagement, and we look forward to the exciting journey ahead this year.
Stay connected and engaged, and together we will continue to build a strong, united Descendant Community.
Regards,
Travis Thymes
President
2025 National DNA Day Celebration
The GU272 Descendants Association's free virtual 2025 National DNA Day celebration will feature Daniel Horowitz, MyHeritage's Genealogy Expert, who will present his lecture, "MyHeritage DNA 101: From Taking the Test to Understanding the Results," explaining how to use bleeding-edge technology to find your roots.
The lecture will appear online via Zoom on Saturday, April 26, 2025, starting at 10 a.m. Eastern. Space is limited, so register here.
Note: This event will be recorded and shared on the Association's YouTube Channel. You will receive a Zoom link via the email you provide at registration 24 hours before the start of the event.
The 2025 Salon Series
In February, we hosted a special Salon series in honor of Black History Month. This series focused on honoring the Ancestors of Jesuit enslavement and celebrating their lives and legacies.
Attendees joined us for inspiring and empowering free speaker sessions throughout February. They learned from historians, genealogists and authors who have conducted extensive research on the lives of Jesuit-enslaved ancestors. Additionally, representatives from leading DNA test companies shared how cutting-edge technology can be used to trace your roots.
View the Zoom recordings of the 2025 Salon Series Honoring Ancestors Enslaved by the Jesuits (including GU272). Share the link invitation with your Descendant community network. We believe this series is a valuable and enriching experience for all!
The Genealogy Lecture Series
Did you miss our Fall Genealogy Lecture Series? It's not too late to catch up!
The four-part webinar series, designed for the Jesuit-enslaved Descendant community, shares the basics of family history research, how to use DNA test results to resolve lineage questions, best practices for hiring a professional genealogist, and how to apply to become a certified Descendant. If you had a schedule conflict or lost your invitation to join us, you are in luck. We recorded and uploaded each episode to our YouTube channel. You can also access the syllabi for the series as well as our genealogy toolkit to expand your knowledge and deepen your understanding of your ancestors’ experiences. Stay tuned for additional programming in the new year.
An Update from the Descendants Truth & Reconciliation Foundation
Hello, Family!
I write to share good news with each of you. The Descendants Truth and Reconciliation
Foundation continues to promote programs that will meet the targets of our initial pillars of success: educational scholarships for Descendants; supporting the emergency needs of elderly and infirm Descendants; and facilitating truth, racial healing and transformation programs throughout America.
In partnership with the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, the Descendants Truth and Reconciliation Foundation is happy to announce that 22 family members have been able to take advantage of the educational scholarship program that was launched last year. These students attended 18 different institutions of their choice throughout the United States. The total amount awarded was $171,756. If you or someone you know is interested in a two- or four-year degree, the scholarship program is now open for Fall 2025 and is renewable each year of enrollment. Learn more here.
The second Descendants Truth and Reconciliation Foundation program to launch has been earmarked for the benefit of elderly and infirm Descendants. Two family members are now piloting this national program to provide limited modifications to the homes of our elderly and infirm family members, allowing them to live the remainder of their lives in their homes in dignity. The Aging with Dignity program comes at no cost to you. Home modifications such as grab bars, wheelchair accessible ramps and widened doorways, weatherization proofing, and asthma remediation will be offered as required to eligible Descendants at no cost. These expenses are covered by the Descendants Truth and Reconciliation Foundation. Learn more here.
Lastly, the Descendants Truth and Reconciliation Foundation is thrilled to announce our partnership with The Stories of Us, an arts education nonprofit that uses public art and public space to engage people in conversations about how we can become a more solidarity-driven and equity-focused society. For an upcoming exhibition, The Stories of Us will bring together artists and storytellers to explore narratives around the Descendant experience, and how it embodies the conflicts between the high ideals of our nation and the reality of oppression and enslavement in our nation’s founding. As part of this partnership, The Stories of Us has issued a Request for Proposal seeking artists to visually illustrate the stories of Descendants. This opportunity is open to any person who self-identifies as a Descendant of Jesuit enslavement.
Stay tuned to hear of our future efforts to serve all age groups of Descendants. Send ideas to us at info@descendants.org as well. We would like to hear from you. The best is yet to come.
Sincerely,
Monique Maddox
President and CEO
Descendants Truth and Reconciliation Foundation
The Descendants Truth and Reconciliation Foundation is an established 501(c)(3) nonprofit partnership that works to mitigate the dehumanizing impact of racism on our human family while dismantling the continuing legacy of slavery in America through truth, racial healing and transformation. Learn more at www.descendants.org. Stay tuned to our news and program updates by subscribing to the DTRF mailing list at http://eepurl.com/iHcyH-/.
Remember Their Names
By Bayou
This poem is dedicated to our ancestors who pressed their way through in order for us to live to share their stories!
Almost two hundred years ago, our ancestors were sold to the swamps and bayous of Louisiana.
I can't imagine their screams and cries, but to some folk, their pain and fear didn't matter.
The Jesuit slave sale displayed the greed of men who treated our people as human cargo.
They were bound and shackled and many had no place to run, hide or go.
Not even the 2 month old clinging to her mother's breast was safe.
Surrounded by the smell of dead flesh and feces with not a square nor inch of space.
Let it be known, the GU272 slaves were sold for profit.
And their lives were never intended to be traced, in hopes they would soon be forgotten.
We must not forget about the 13,000 enslaved who were held as collateral.
How can any humane person think imprisonment was natural?
May we remember the names of those who stood strong and survived the swamps of the Deep South.
Let their names spring up from your mouth!
Remember Barbara, Barnes, Blacklock and Bair!
Names our ancestors were forced to accept and live in despair.
Say the names Brown, Butler, Campbell and Chambers!
Thinking about them and my Grandpa Basil Butler, who were all forced to be free laborers.
Let us not forget Chaivin, Contee, Coyles, Cremble, Cutchmore, Digges, and Dorsey!
Innocent people who simply wanted to be free.
May we forever remember Eaglin, Ford, Franklin, Gough and Greenlief!
I cannot imagine the emotional constraints they felt as well as unbearable grief.
Please remember Hammon, Harris, Hawkins, Hill and Hopkins!
Even men like my Grandpa Sam Harris, were given no options.
Jones, Johnson, Kelly, Langley and Lewis being dragged to ships that awaited to carry them to an unfamiliar place.
Along with Mahoney, Mason, Merrill, Mills, Noland, Plowden, Queen, Roach and Riley, all praying this nightmare would just be erased.
Shout the names Rudd, Scott, Sweeton, Sweets, Taylor and Turner!
Makes me think about Brother Pete and Cousin Frank, who worked as enslaved farmers.
Scream the names Ware, West, Wilson, Wilton and Yorkshire!
All 272 enslaved should be recognized and admired.
While you tried to bury their names, we as descendants proved them to have lived to spread their seeds throughout the land.
And those who were able to escape, trusted God had a different plan.
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