The Descendants Truth & Reconciliation Foundation has announced contributions to its trust totaling $27 million from the USA East Province of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) and Georgetown University.

The $17 million contribution from the Jesuits includes $7 million as the estimated value of plantation land where the Catholic order benefited from the enslavement of Africans and a five-year, $10 million commitment that matches a $10 million contribution from the university, a school founded by the Jesuits. The funds are in addition to $15 million given by the Jesuits and $1 million by Georgetown in 2019 as part of a $100 million pledge in support of efforts to benefit the descendants of enslaved people the Jesuit community once owned and promote racial reconciliation initiatives across the United States.

The latest contributions boost the Descendants Truth & Reconciliation Trust’s assets to $42 million. Earnings from the trust will fund programs including support for the educational aspirations of descendants from early childhood education through postsecondary education; investing in truth, racial healing, and reconciliation in communities and organizations across the U.S.; and supporting elderly and infirm members of the descendant community.

“As a Catholic community, it is imperative that we don’t turn away from our sinful history of slaveholding and instead look inward at how we can right past wrongs with justice, healing, and compassion,” said Fr. Tim Kesicki, chair of the trust. “I am thrilled to see other Catholic and Jesuit institutions step up by investing in the [foundation’s] mission to foster racial healing and uplift current and future descendants.”

“The [foundation] has put forth an extraordinary vision to uplift descendant communities, support the educational aspirations of descendants, and promote racial healing in our nation,” said Georgetown president John J. DeGioia. “The difficult truths of our past guide us in the urgent work of seeking and supporting reconciliation in our present and future.”

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