Traveling slavery museum exhibit lands at University of St. Thomas

The Descendants Truth & Reconciliation Foundation (DTRF) today unveiled What We Inherit: Truth, Repair, and a Promise to the Future, a new traveling exhibition telling the story of the 314 Black men, women, and children sold by the Jesuits in 1838 — and of the Descendants and Jesuits working together today to repair the living harms of that history.

The exhibition makes its national debut in St. Paul at the University of St. Thomas, where it will run October 5 through November 5.

The self-guided exhibition blends archival records, historical photographs, interactive media, and Descendant and Jesuit testimony to examine how these stories were lost, rediscovered, and reclaimed across generations. Visitors will meet the enslaved by name and learn their stories and how this history lives on today.

“My ancestors in this exhibit were enslaved and sold by Jesuit priests,” said Monique Trusclair Maddox, President and CEO of the Descendants Truth & Reconciliation Foundation. “Because the world that enslavement helped build is the world we all live in, What We Inherit isn’t a Black story or a Catholic story — it’s the story of our American inheritance, and every one of us has to decide what we will do with our part of it.”

The first exhibition is hosted by the University of St. Thomas’s Racial Justice Initiative. 

“We are tremendously excited about this exhibit and about the partnership with the Descendants of Truth and Reconciliation Foundation that made it possible,” said Dr. Yohuru Williams, Distinguished University Chair, Professor of History, and Founding Director of the Racial Justice Initiative at the University of St. Thomas. “The work of the Racial Justice Initiative begins with the conviction that we cannot find our way forward without honestly confronting the histories we share. This exhibit creates a powerful space for that encounter — one grounded in memory and truth, but ultimately directed toward dialogue, human dignity, and the common good.”

Williams and Trusclair Maddox, during a panel discussion on Nov. 2, will discuss this exhibit and how to confront difficult histories without becoming captive to them. The Finding Forward event “Facing History: Memory, Reconciliation, and the Common Good,” will be moderated by University of St. Thomas President Rob Vischer and will accommodate in-person and livestream attendance at no cost. Learn more at https://alumni.stthomas.edu/events/finding-forward. 

To support educators, DTRF has also created an accompanying visit guide for teachers, including a mini curriculum to explore before and after classroom visits. The content is geared toward middle and high school-aged students and offers age-appropriate language and discussion prompts for processing difficult history.

What We Inherit is designed to travel to museums, universities, libraries and community spaces nationwide, providing communities across the country with opportunities to engage with this history through a Descendant-centered lens.