"Let Us Go Free"

C. Walker Gollar is professor of church history in the Department of Theology at Xavier University in Cincinnati. He specializes in the history of American Catholicism. He is the author of American and Catholic: Stories of the People who Built the Church (2015).

List of IllustrationsPreface: Molly and Thomas BrownIntroduction

Part 1 ColonizationChapter 1 The Americas, 1492–1619Chapter 2 Central and South America, 1572–1760Chapter 3 Jamestown, 1564–1622Chapter 4 Maryland Adventurers, 1634–1638Chapter 5 Early Colonists, 1634–1641Chapter 6 Jesuit Farmers, 1638–1668Chapter 7 The "New Negroes," 1660–1700

Part 2 GeorgetownChapter 8 Jesuit Slaveholders, 1688–1740Chapter 9 Enslaved Catholics, 1730–1770Chapter 10 Revolution and War, 1770–1789Chapter 11 Georgetown College, 1788–1811Chapter 12 Self-Emancipated People, 1787–1815Chapter 13 Free African Americans, 1800–1815Chapter 14 Maryland Plantations in Decline, 1815–1830Chapter 15 Abandoned People, 1830–1861

Part 3 The Catholic FrontierChapter 16 The Frontier, 1760–1825Chapter 17 St. Louis, 1825–1863Chapter 18 Kentucky, 1832–1868Chapter 19 Grand Coteau, Louisiana, 1838–1848Chapter 20 Spring Hill, Alabama, 1830–1847Chapter 21 Dominicans in Kentucky, 1768–1832Chapter 22 St. Xavier College, Ohio, 1833–1854

Part 4 DescendantsChapter 23 Maryland, 1865–1923Chapter 24 Emancipatory Educators, 1924–2003Chapter 25 Descendants Reunited, 2004–2020Conclusion: Regret, Gratitude, and Reconciliation

BibliographyIndex About the Author