Collaborative on Global Children's Issues

In 1838, a group of the United States’ most prominent Catholic priests, the Society of Jesuits, sold 272 enslaved people to save Georgetown University, their largest mission project and the first Catholic institution of higher learning in the United States. Writer Mélisande Short-Colomb is a descendant of families enslaved and trafficked by the Society of Jesus in this documented 1838 sale. She created Here I Am, a performance celebrating her 11 generations of grandmothers and exploring her complicated relationship with Georgetown University. Here I Am weaves a tapestry through narrative, music, and vivid imagery, thus inviting the audience on an experiential journey exploring her family oral history and its relationship to the Jesuit institution that enslaved and trafficked her ancestors.

Short-Colomb performed Here I Am in Gaston Hall at Georgetown University on April 4 and 12, 2023—two years after its acclaimed virtual premiere on April 16, 2021—in conjunction with Emancipation Day, celebrated on April 16 in Washington, DC. Thousands of audience members attended the in-person and online performances. In this excerpt from the Gaston Hall performance, Short-Colomb shares how her grandmother, Harriet, chose to stay with her children during the 1838 sale.

Mélisande Short-Colomb (C’21) is a research and community engagement associate for the Laboratory on Global Performance and Politics at Georgetown University. She also serves on the Georgetown Memory Project Board of Advisors and is a founding member of the GU272 Descendants Association.