Loyola students publish “Untold Truths: Exposing Slavery and Its Legacies at Loyola”

Loyola University Maryland’s Center for the Humanities and Apprentice House Press will mark the publication of Untold Truths: Exposing Slavery and Its Legacies at Loyola with a book launch event on April 15, 2024, at 7 p.m. The event, which will be held in McGuire Hall on the Evergreen campus, is free and open to the public, but registration is required. Reserve your space through this registration page. 

The book was created as part of the Aperio Series of Humane Texts, a unique Center for the Humanities initiative that enables faculty and students to collaborate on original research and publish their work with Apprentice House Press, Loyola’s student-run publishing company. 

Untold Truths is a student-created work that was compiled while the President’s Task Force on Loyola’s Connections to Slavery was working on a report for the Loyola community. That report, which was informed by student research and writing in Untold Truths, was released in January 2024 and explains Loyola’s connection to the sale of the Georgetown 272—the 272 enslaved men, women, and children sold in 1838 by the Society of Jesus. The report is available through Loyola’s Universities Studying Slavery site.

“I am really proud that I was able to help contribute some pieces and storytelling for our University, and I’m grateful to have been part of this,” said Alexis Faison, ’24, an interdisciplinary communication and political science major who served on the task force and wrote a reflection for the book. “Students are thinking about their Loyola experience and how their presence contributes to that experience. This is definitely not the end. There is still so much that we haven’t explored.” 

The event will offer the opportunity to hear from the student researchers, writers, artists, and descendants of the Georgetown 272 who contributed work to the volume. They will reflect on their journey to understand slavery and its legacies at Loyola while compiling this poignant anthology, share archival materials that inspired their writing, and celebrate the culmination of their hard work and dedication to reveal these Untold Truths. 

“By showcasing the talents, diligence, and insights of Loyola students and descendants of the 272, Untold Truths reveals a collaborative effort to confront horrible histories of slavery and its legacies to forge a more racially just path,” said David Carey, Jr., Ph.D., Doehler Chair in History and a member of the task force. 

Sponsored by the Center for the Humanities, this event also celebrates the Center's four decades of supporting humanities scholarship and programming on Loyola's campus and beyond. 

“Untold Truths exemplifies the power of the humanities to critically engage with the injustices of the past and present and to bring people together to chart a more just way forward,” said Martin Camper, Ph.D., associate professor of writing and director of the Center of the Humanities. 

About the Book 

Untold Truths brings together scholars, students, staff, and descendants to explore Loyola University Maryland’s historical connections to slavery, Jim Crow, and racial injustice. They do so through a variety of forms, including historical narratives, analysis of newly uncovered archival sources, and creative works inspired by this history. Privileging the voices of descendants of the men, women, and children Jesuits enslaved and sold, this collection of essays explores Loyola’s connections to slavery and its ongoing reverberations for the University and all those connected to it. This diverse and rich volume contributes to ongoing efforts to gain a fuller understanding of Loyola’s past in hopes of finding pathways towards racial justice and inclusion on its campus—and on all campuses that seek to address historical injustices. 

About the Series 

Humanities in Action is a new limited event series sponsored by Loyola University Maryland's Center for the Humanities. The series invites scholars, artists, and public figures to campus to talk about timely issues of broad significance that affect what it means to be human in our society and the world. 

Learn more at the Humanities in Action site.