Slave descendants demand $70B in reparations from St. Louis University

Descendants of slaves that were forced to build St. Louis University say the Jesuit school owes them some $70 billion in reparations. The figure was calculated by economists, based on 70 people identified as slaves of the Jesuits earning a low wage of $0.05 an hour between 1823 and 1865, and adjusted for inflation, according to a PBS article posted on the website of Descendants of the St. Louis University Enslaved last week. DSLUE consists of 200 people that trace their lineage to the slaves, and have called on the university to come up with a plan to compensate them “what they are rightfully owed” for the sins of its founders. “St. Louis University has a chance to do something positive by properly acknowledging the tragic history,” said DSLUE founder and director Robin Proudie, who is descended from university slaves Charles Chauvin and Henrietta Mills, documents show. Saint Louis University was founded in 1818, and built with “involuntary labor” by slaves of the Jesuits, an order of the Catholic Church. “The beginning of trying to make this right is saying the names of the enslaved so that we may never forget them.” Explore More The Jesuits had relied on slaves...