Naming Reconciliation
“Naming Reconciliation” is a short documentary created by students in Georgetown Social Justice Documentary class in the Spring of 2017 semester. The video provides both prior contexts for Georgetown’s history of slavery and the ways in which the institution has decided to reconcile its past.
In essence, the video explores the significance of Brother Joseph Mobberly who was an overseer of one of the plantations in Maryland. The short documentary explores how the university uses Brother Mobberly’s name on campus as a way to address and acknowledge their history of slavery.
While the institution's perspective is presented, it also includes the perspective of a descendant of an enslaved person. The video begins with the viewpoint of Georgetown University President John Degioia, who discusses the institution's history of slavery and ends with the viewpoint of a New York reporter who discusses how slavery has been a part of many private institutions, including Georgetown University. The reporter brings to the light the reality that After a great deal of pressure from the whole Georgetown community, Georgetown took an early step toward justice and responsibility in comparison to other institutions.
While the short documentary was made as a part of Professor Cook’s Social Justice Documentary class, it was actually made for a larger audience. The short documentary aims to not only show Georgetown’s effort in reparations but it also aims to inform those that have no knowledge of the institution's dark history. This short documentary is a stepping stone in the journey that Georgetown has taken to rectify itself. Additionally, it impacts not only the descendants of the 272 men, women, and children that were sold, but it further impacts Georgetown students and faculty even.
The video reveals that Georgetown has started to take the right steps in taking responsibility for its past. Furthermore, not only does it show the progress taken by the institution through the speech provided by President John Degioia, but also it shows the perspective of students of private universities as Harvard who have also had ties to slavery. The short documentary considers that while Georgetown was late in acknowledging their past, they still have made efforts to make reparations. Georgetown as an institution has the benefit of being one of the first private institutions to take accountability for its sale of slaves.
On the other hand, the video was made in 2017, almost 178 years after the sale of 272 men, women, and children that occurred in Georgetown—indicating that Georgetown as an institution took a fairly long time to acknowledge and take action against its past. The short documentary video can be linked to the narrative of the Atlantic World, as the video provides the perspective of a descent of GU272 and her view on Georgetown’s journey of reconciliation.
The short documentary stresses the significance of reconciliation and reparations. While claiming accountability Georgetown further takes responsibility for their past, by memorializing those who suffered from their past. As the video proves, day-by-day Georgetown is finding ways to reconcile for their past whether it be through any means. These steps taken by Georgetown show a brighter future for the institution's ability to take responsibility for their actions, notwithstanding if it puts them in a bad light or not.
Works Cited
Georgetown FMST-399 Spring 2017, “Video: Naming Reconciliation,” Georgetown Slavery Archive, accessed December 6, 2021, https://slaveryarchive.georgetown.edu/items/show/210.
Rothman, A., & Mendoza, B. E. (2021). Facing Georgetown's history: A reader on slavery, memory, and reconciliation. Georgetown University Press.
By: AlDana Al-Thani
Guq'24