Be safe, clean and clear, and preserve history were the three guidelines displayed on a whiteboard on Jan. 16 as students from The Catholic University of America, community members, parishioners, and other volunteers gathered together for an MLK Day of Service at the grounds of Sacred Heart Church in Bowie, Maryland to mark the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
This is part of an ongoing effort at Sacred Heart Parish, which recently found through ground penetrating radar that there are many unmarked and unidentified structures and burials throughout the vast, 33-acre property (the tally continues to increase, so far the number of graves found is in the 300s near the historic chapel). Previously, the property was one of the plantations owned by members of the Society of Jesus, the Jesuits, in Maryland in the 1700s and 1800s, and enslaved people who worked at that plantation may be buried in the unmarked graves there.
Father Ronald Potts, the pastor of Sacred Heart Parish, kicked off the event with an opening prayer.
Laura Masur, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology at Catholic University who is working on this project, noted in an interview, “When I’ve talked to the descendants and members of the community, some of them had visited White Marsh, had visited Sacred Heart, about five years ago…shortly after the news came out about Georgetown and the GU272. Some of them said, ‘We walked through the woods, it was very clear people were buried there.’…I think there is a sense of, I wouldn’t say excitement, but I think a sense of satisfaction that the burials will be given the respect they deserve, people who you know really weren’t shown respect in life.”
The clean-up is crucial to continuing the research effort in the area, Masur explained, as the cemetery is located near a heavily wooded area on a hillside. There are fallen trees, overgrown briers, and branches covering the ground. The volunteers gathered that day and on Jan. 14 to clear brush and debris on the property.
“There’s a goal of transitioning this into a more maintained area, where people can walk around and visit graves…[Some descendants] want it to be a space about education as well, so people who visit can learn the story of their ancestors,” Masur said.
GU272 refers to the sale in 1838 of 272 enslaved men, women, and children to two Louisiana plantation owners by the Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus, in order to ensure the financial survival of Georgetown College. In recent years, Georgetown University has launched a project to research and grapple with the Jesuits’ role in owning and trading enslaved people, and it has worked with descendants on what steps the university should take as it recognizes its role in that history and works to promote reconciliation.
On the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service, the Catholic University students involved included recent graduates and those working as lab techs for Masur as well as current students, including members of the school’s volleyball team.
Aileen McPartland, a sophomore, and Isabel Gonzalez, a junior, are Catholic University students and play volleyball on the school’s team. Like many participants in the day of service, McPartland and Gonzalez were stunned by the revelation of hundreds of burial sites.
“We didn’t even know this existed,” Gonzalez said. “Then we came here, and [we’re seeing] there’s so much history.”
McPartland added, “Just going down there and seeing full-on marble stone underneath, that’s crazy. Obviously, we have all these graves up here (in the cemetery), but it’s crazy to see how much stuff is under this hill.”
The two explained why it was important to come out and help for the day.
“I’ve done community service before back home, with like my church or, I used to be a Girl Scout when I was little,” Gonzalez said. “A new year’s resolution for me was to get involved more, and do more community service and do more things involved with the Catholic Church, so for me specifically this is really important, and it’s just really fun to be here with my team that’s my closest group around campus.”
Service was a selling point to attending Catholic University for McPartland.
“I came to Catholic and our coach told us that we were going to be doing a lot of service, and I was really excited about that because obviously community is a big thing for everyone, so I was just happy to be here,” McPartland said.
Another pass of ground penetrating radar will be done following the clean-up. According to members of the Sacred Heart Church History Committee, this is the beginning of what will be a years-long project for the parish.
After the day of service, Father Potts praised the effort, saying, "It's been an incredible success. We had a great turnout of people, it's great to have everyone working together and seeing the benefits of all their energy as we continue to find more graves of our enslaved brothers and sisters."
