By Mary Woodward
JACKSON – To begin this series exploring race and our diocesan church, I want to offer a disclaimer. These articles are meant to spark thoughts and conversations. They are not meant to call anyone out or to embarrass anyone’s grandparents or great-grandparents.
As stated in the introductory column in the last edition of Mississippi Catholic, we will be exploring history – an extremely unique history – and we will remain true to the history with all its good and bad. With that being said, let’s get started.

“Finding Your Roots” is a popular PBS show tracing the ancestry of various celebrities and well-known public figures. Harvard professor, Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., is the host and creator of the series. Professor Gates is the Director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard. Gates has done many documentaries and works on African American history, ancestry and the American slave narrative.
Genealogy has become a major industry over the past decade because of shows such as “Finding Your Roots.” People have become very interested in their family origins and the journeys of their ancestors.
Ancestry.com, a website that has grown out of work done by the Mormon Church, has a database and links from which a person can find U.S. Census records, marriage and death records, ship passenger lists, military service records and more. One can develop a family tree and link with others seeking the same ancestors from other families throughout the country and world.
I used Ancestry to trace my ancestors back to the arrival of Christopher Woodward at the colony of Charlestown in Virginia in 1623. Somehow, he got on the ship in England as Christopher and when he disembarked in the colony, he was Sir Christopher.
But what happens when an African American tries to take the same resource and trace her or his family’s journey. In all probability the research will hit a dead end after four or five generations unless there is a family Bible that has been around for 200 years or there is someone of European origin in the line.
This past week, Fabvienen Taylor, former photojournalist for Mississippi Catholic and current Diocesan Tribunal office manager, and I talked about a visit she once made to the diocesan archives vault. She was doing a story on the microfilming of parish sacramental registers. The registers are microfilmed and now digitized every 10 years so that there will be a copy of the records in case something happens to them at the parish.
Sacramental records are our most valuable records because baptismal records document the faith life of a person. The record can also be used to establish an identity if there is no other record such as a birth certificate.
Taylor, who is African American, began to tell me that Frances Boeckman, previous diocesan archivist who was quite knowledgeable in diocesan history and very devoted to the archives, had pulled one of the older baptismal records from Natchez and opened it to a particular page for her to see. The page from the mid-1800s contained handwriting in India ink and featured a list of first names.

Taylor remarked to me how she recalled how elegant and ordered the handwriting was. She then realized the records were those of slaves owned by the man listed at the top of the page. This caused her to look past the beauty of the handwriting and see the true ugliness of the content. It was at this time I revealed that in my own journey I had discovered an ancestor who in fact owned slaves. I am sure there were more.
Beautiful handwriting chronicling the evil of slavery – meticulous recordings of this great sin whose aftermath still plagues our country today. This unjust and immoral system, although legal at the time, and its legacy is a part of our diocesan history. We will address this throughout this series and in a particular way in the next article when we meet some of the individuals in the records of Spanish Colonial Natchez in the 1790s.
And so, maybe now we can understand why an African American’s attempts at tracing her or his roots through records may end shortly after it begins. It is difficult to connect families when they have been separated in the slave trade and listed only by the first name. Husbands taken from wives, children from mothers – all given names by the owner, thus almost erasing any trace of the person’s existence or dignity as a human person.
Yes, the records on the page are elegantly inscribed and at times connections are made that start a small thread of hope in terms of tracing ancestry. But one cannot look at them and not be profoundly affected by the magnitude of the content.
To be continued …

(Mary Woodward is Chancellor and Archivist for the Diocese of Jackson)

By Mary Woodward
JACKSON – November is designated as Black Catholic History Month by the U. S. Bishops’ Conference. As Chancellor and Archivist for the Diocese of Jackson, I wanted to share some of the vast treasures the archives hold in regards to the development of the church in our state and the church’s role in race relations and seeking racial justice.

In November 2018, in addition to endorsing the cause for canonization for Servant of God Sister Thea Bowman, FSPA, the U.S. Bishops published the document Open Wide Our Hearts – The Enduring Call to Love: A Pastoral Response to Racism. This document is a Pastoral Letter from the full body of bishops to the lay faithful and all people of goodwill addressing the evil of racism.

The pastoral letter asks us to recall that we are all brothers and sisters, all equally made in the image of God. Because we all bear the image of God, racism is above all a moral and theological problem that manifests institutionally and systematically.

Only a deep individual conversion of heart, which then multiplies, will compel change and reform in our institutions and society. It is imperative to confront racism’s root causes and the injustice it produces. The love of God binds us together. This same love should overflow into our relationships with all people. The conversions needed to overcome racism require a deep encounter with the living God in the person of Christ who can heal all division.

Over the next few months, in conjunction with a diocesan effort to address racism led by Bishop Joseph Kopacz and the Office of Intercultural Ministry, our archives will be offering a series of articles highlighting particular moments, organizations and individuals that played a key role in shaping the diocese and Mississippi. Some of the material will inspire you and make you smile; other material may challenge you and make you uncomfortable. This is what opening the chapters and wounds of history does and if we do not study our history and be open to its contexts and settings, we will not be able to truly heal and move forward in a way that is just and honest.

One topic that many diocesan archives in the South are addressing are the sacramental records of slaves and how to preserve and present them for research. Our own archives have records from Spanish Colonial times in Natchez. The records are from 1789-1806 and hand-written in Spanish.

Felicite Giradeaux, the grand dame of Natchez and a free woman of color, will give us insight into Natchez Catholic life between 1802 and the establishment of the diocese in 1837. Our collection contains a hand-written interview with her by Bishop William Henry Elder, who is another story we will explore as he was our bishop during the Civil War.

Another topic will be education in the African American communities beginning with the first efforts at this in the basement of St. Mary Basilica in Natchez in the 1840s and growing into schools staffed by religious orders throughout the State. The diocese’s move toward integration of its own schools will be documented as well.

How to exist as a universal church in a segregated society is a fascinating topic that will lead us into the Civil Rights Movement and the church’s role in that here at what many consider “ground zero.” This was a very volatile time, and we will share some key moments of grace under fire from without and within.

And of course, we have Sister Thea, who challenged the whole church to honest dialogue about systemic racism in the church and the world. Her message is a guiding beacon for us as a church still today.

We have come a long way and we have built many bridges leading to healing. We have more to build. So, I invite you to be open to what is presented and embrace the opportunity to engage in this honest dialogue with others about race and how it affects our communities.

It is through the study of our history, our shared experience, and the understanding of our ancestors – warts and all – that we will be able to honor our Catholicity and truly by united in Christ as Christ intended. I hope you will find this series helpful and hopeful.

(Mary Woodward is the Chancellor and Archivist for the Diocese of Jackson.)