rachel il swarns for the 272 the families who were enslaved and sold to build the american catholic church. in 1838, a group of america's most prominent catholic priests sold 272 enslaved people to save their largest mission project, which is now georgetown university. in this groundbreaking account, professor swarns follows one family through nearly two centuries of indentured servitude and enslavement to uncover the harrowing origin story of the catholic church in the united states. rachel swarns is a journalist, author and associate professor of journalism at new york university who writes about race and race relations as a contributing writer for the new york times. her articles about georgetown university's roots in slavery touched off a national conversation and about america's university days and their ties to this painful period in history. her work has been recognized, raised and supported by the national endowment, the humanities, the four org ford foundation, the leon levy center for biography, the biographers international organized nation, among others. as a correspondent for

rachel swarns is a journalist, author and associate professor of journalism at new york university who writes about race and race relations as a contributing writer for the new york times. her articles about georgetown university's roots in slavery touched off a national conversation and about america's university days and their ties to this painful period in history. her work has been recognized, raised and supported by the national endowment, the humanities, the four org ford foundation, the leon levy center for biography, the biographers international organized nation, among others. as a correspondent for the times swarns reported from russia, cuba, guatemala and southern africa and covered immigration and presidential politics and michelle obama in her role in. the obama white house. she is the author of american tapestry the story of the black, white and multiroom racial ancestors of michelle obama and the coauthor of unseen, unpublished black history. the new york times photo archives. swarns will be joined in conversation session today with michel martin, the host of morning edi

please welcoming and joining rachel swarns and michelle martin. >> a host of morning edition. friendly amendment. there are four of us. do not get me in trouble. well,. >> welcome home. >> glad to have you back in d.c. quite a journey. >> how many of you read the original new york times piece in 2016? i know it has been a while. do you remember? do you ever wonder when somebody writes a particularly reported article and then a book comes out, if there is more to say? you're like is the really more to say? i was wondering why you understood or when you understood that there was so much more to say. what was it after the first piece which was so impactful and is so deeply reported in so socking -- shocking to some that made you understand there was much more to say? >> it is so cool to be sitting alongside you and it to you here after so many years. i think it might be useful to talk a little bit about how i even came to this dory. it started in 2015. students were protesting at georgetown. they were concerned about two buildings that carried the names of two of the priest who h

it took us several days to even get swarn in and get started.ow, while this is still being litigated, we don't have the ability to move legislation. to give you one example i'm the author of a bill called the press act. it provides protections for freedom of the press and protects your ability to not reveal your sources. the co-lead is democrat jamie raskin of maryland, a bipartisan bill, passed the judiciary unanimously. we can't move that legislation even though it's teed up for a vote on the floor which is why it's so important that we get through this and get back to the work of delivering results for the american people so bills like this or another bill i have, a bipartisan bill with representative bonamici of oregon to address the fentanyl crisis, to promote awareness and outreach in schools across the country. this is legislation that will save lives but it can't move while all of this is going on. i'm very hopeful that whoever ends up being nominated by our conference next week will quickly be ratified by the house and then we'll get ba

rachel il swarns for the 272 the families who were enslaved and sold to build the

rachel il swarns for the 272 the families who were enslaved and sold to build the american catholic > we are so excited to be here to celebrate rachel's warns, for the families that are enslaved and sold to build the catholic

rachel swarns, a journalist, author and associate professor journalism at nyu. she writes about race and race relations and a contributing writer for the new york times, where i first read her on the subject. she wrote book on her work, been recognized by the national endowment for humanities, the ford foundation, the leon levy center i biography artists residencies and, other programs. she is the author. first book was american tapestry story of the black, white and multiracial ancestors of michelle obama, and she is a coauthor of unseen, unpublished black history from the new york times, her most book is the 272, which we'll hear about in a moment. kidada williams is like me, a professor of history. she teaches at wayne state in detroit. she is the author of two amazing books. i death coming, which she will be talking about today. and they left great marks me her she is a coauthor of the charleston syllabus, which was a collection of writings, was put out after the massacre in charleston. that was an amazing thing. kidada and she is the creator of a podcast se

and and i think just recognize using these folks and having them seen is really important rachel swarns descendants all of you, thank you all so much for being here. thank and it is a great privilege for me to be with you at acton university this summer. eight years ago, our family had to make a decision about a move, and we ended up deciding to come to grand rapids. and in our pro and con list, the physical presence of the acton institute in grand rapids was a major plus. on the good side. so i'm glad to be here. i'm also glad that we are here in person. it wasn't too long ago when we had to meet in a rather gnostic fashion, and so that we were able to meet incarnation early is a very good thing. i'm also delighted to join you because we are discussing the intersection of c.s. lewis, liberty and law, or jack lewis, as he was known to his friends and family. if your name was clive staples, you might go by jack as well. if you're attending this session, i probably don't have to sell you on why lewis liberty and law is a fun combination. i hope you'll find our conversation illuminating. w