College Commission Examines Cornelia Connelly’s Ties to Slavery In the spring of 2018, students in Professor Michelle Moravec’s digital humanities course were researching Cornelia Connelly’s life, particularly aspects that were not as well-known as her later accomplishments such as founding the Society of the Holy Child Jesus. The students focused on Cornelia’s early life and came to understand that her husband had owned, and they both had been served by, enslaved people, a fact acknowledged by the Society of the Holy Child Jesus several decades ago. At the same time, colleges and universities nationwide were examining their own histories to identify and acknowledge their connections to slavery. Much of this research was spurred by a book published in 2013 by historian Craig Steven Wilder called Ebony and Ivy: Race, Slavery, and the Troubled History of America’s Universities. A significant number of schools had presidents who were slave owners or were dependent on funds from slave owners, buildings on their campuses that were built by slaves, and more. In 2018, President Hirsh established a Commission for Rosemont to research its ties to slavery. When Rosemont first announced its Commission, similar studies had been, or were being conducted by Georgetown, Rutgers, Columbia, Dartmouth, and nearby Bryn Mawr College. Also, in 2018, Harvard hosted a major conference on Slavery and Universities. Since then, many other schools – including neighboring Villanova University – have launched studies of their institution’s connections to slavery. “I’ve tried to follow all of the many, many colleges and universities that are going through this process,” said President Hirsh. “To my knowledge, Rosemont is the smallest institution to undertake this process to date. I think we should be very proud of this work and this experience.” Members of the commission – led by Sr. Jeanne Hatch, SHCJ, vice president for Mission at Rosemont and Troy Chiddick, dean of students – examined documents from the SHCJ archives at Rosemont and Oxford, England. Rosemont was founded after the institution of slavery had been abolished, but as
9 | RO S EM O N T C O L L EG E
Erin Brown, a descendant of two enslaved people owned by the Connelly family, visited Rosemont's Campus. Professor Moravec’s class and the Commission had learned, the founder of the SHCJ and her family had connections to slavery, as did many who lived in the American South in the 1830s. Joyce Norcini ’77 that Pierce ConnelThis class learned ly, Cornelia’s husband, once owned enslaved people. In 1831, Cornelia married Pierce Connelly, an Episcopalian priest, and they moved to Natchez, Mississippi. When their first child, Mercer, was born in 1832, Dr. William Mercer, a close friend, gave the family two of his slaves: Phoebe Grayson and her daughter, Sarah Goff (also known as Sally). Connelly also owned Phoebe’s grandchildren: George, Mary, and James Henry and two additional people outside of this family unit, Jenny and Abraham. These people labored for Pierce and Cornelia, who eventually sold or transferred ownership of them. In 1838, after their conversion to Catholicism, the Connelly’s moved to Grand Coteau, Louisiana, and lived among Catholic slave owners. In 1842, before returning to Europe to pursue the priesthood, Pierce sold Sally and her children to the Jesuit community at St. Charles College. Phoebe, by then in her
later years, was given to the Jesuits. At the end of January, Erin Brown, the great-great-great-great granddaughter of Phoebe Grayson and the great-great-great granddaughter of Sally Gough, visited Rosemont to meet and personally thank the members of the Commission for their work. Brown also met with Sr. Carroll Juliano, Society Leader of the SHCJ American Province. The SHCJ had been in communication with descendants long before the College and Brown’s visit. “I want to thank Rosemont for caring enough about the issue to establish a Commission on the Legacy of Slavery,” said Brown. “The reality is that Phoebe and Sally were gifted to the Connelly family before they converted to Catholicism and were kept until sold after Pierce decided to become a priest in 1842. As such, while they were Catholic slave owners, it fortunately does not have bearing on Cornelia after she decided to answer God’s call to become a nun and doesn’t reflect on the SHCJ or the College. Also, when they did sell them, which was done on her husband’s behalf, she at least sold them to the Jesuits so the Gough family could stay together. That is a silver lining on the very dark cloud known as slavery.”
