Recently uncovered bodies at Q Street reveal a connection to the Georgetown slave trade Illustration by John Woolley
Archaeologists discovered the remains of 28 African Americans at the 3300 block of Q Street NW in Georgetown from the early 1800s, prompting archeologists and historians to develop theories connecting the bodies to Georgetown’s slave trade and the Underground Railroad.
With one body fully analyzed and six others in a preliminary analysis, the process of identifying and tracing the remains has been slow but garnered renewed attention over the area’s history of slavery following the wave of racial justice protests this past summer.
Tear down your monuments to enslavement, Georgetown
This editorial is Part One of a four-part series in honor of Black History Month where the editorial board discusses ways in which Georgetown must atone for its history of racism and change the culture of the university when it comes to race. For more, see Part Two and Part Three.
Despite repeated calls for reform and reparations, Georgetown maintains monuments to its long history of participation and complicity in enslavement. This alone makes it irrefutable that Georgetown continues to be deficient in basic human morality. As members of a community that actively benefits from the privileges Georgetown offers, the Georgetown student body must reckon with the wicked burden of the university’s past sins. This begins with tearing down the monuments the university continues to center names, statues, and symbols alike.