The Black History Month African American Genealogy Workshop will take place from 1 to 2:30 p.m. Saturday, February 5.

This free workshop will educate participants about the enslaved people who were sold by the Jesuit priests of Georgetown University to former Governor Henry S. Johnson of Ascension Parish. Johnson was an attorney and legislator who owned Chatham Plantation in Modeste, Louisiana. Recent discoveries show that there were more that 272 individuals sold by Jesuits and more than 100 of those sold were brought to the Donaldsonville area.

The workshop will help participants determine if they are descendants of the enslaved people who are a part of this amazing history. This program is in conjunction with a GU272 exhibit opening for Juneteenth 2022.

The virtual workshop will be facilitated by Genealogist Karran Royal. Karran is one of the founders and former Executive Director of the GU272 Descendants Association. She is the co-host of the Livestream genealogy show, “Nurturing Our Roots” and the founder of the online community, Descendants of Jesuit Enslavement. She hosts a weekly Zoom call with descendants around the country.

This program is co-sponsored by a Social Science Research Council grant through the American Slavery’s Legacy across Space and Time project, a component of the Council’s Inequity Initiative.