WELCOME TO

Descendants Of The
St. Louis University Enslaved

With each discovery comes a new opportunity.

DSLUE is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization formed to honor and commemorate our Jesuit and Saint Louis University enslaved ancestors, to preserve our heritage and legacy, to repair historical harms, and to educate the broader public about this history now, and in the future.   

Contributor's Corner

A one-of-a-kind pianist, Royce Martin, reimagines Ragtime music!

Welcome to the Contributor’s Corner where related guest essays, articles, opinion pieces, video/audio works, and other creative and cultural media are showcased.  If you would like to submit your content, please reach out and tell us about it. Maybe it will be featured on the Contributor’s Corner!

SEE YOU THROUGH US

The founders believe by being mission focused, not only will we honor, repair, and empower the DSLUE community, we also hope to provide other descendants of the enslaved in America, those who have yet to recover the names and locations of their Ancestors, a window into their past through what is revealed about ours.  As you learn, along with us, about our Jesuit enslaved Ancestors, we hope you’ll be inspired to take that sacred journey back to reclaim what was lost.  We believe – With each discovery comes a new opportunity.

Image of Founder and Executive Director

Robin A. Proudie

Founder/Executive Director

Robin A. Proudie a native St. Louisan, served seven honorable years in the U. S. Navy, and spent seventeen years as a civil servant working alongside senior-level government and military officials, and foreign diplomats based in Washington, D.C.

For nine years, she held a top-secret/sci clearance as a member of the intelligence community at the Pentagon.  In this capacity, she was responsible for the special accreditation of the Corps of Military Attachés and Distinguished Foreign Visitors from over 95 nations.  She liaised with high-profile foreign military generals and their staffs and supported U.S. ambassadors and their embassy staff stationed abroad.

Robin has held positions at the Department of Justice, Headquarters, Civil Rights Division as a special assistant to the Deputy Assistant Attorney General, and at the Community Relations Service where she helped to facilitate dialogue and mediation to communities in conflict.  She also served as a confidential assistant at the Department of Agriculture, and helped to facilitate specialized training, technology, administrative and program support services to federal judges serving in the Judiciary.

She credits the diversity of her experience with helping to hone the skills needed to accomplish what she describes as the most important mission of her life – to honor and commemorate the lives of her Ancestors enslaved by the Jesuits in Maryland and Missouri, to advocate for repair, and to educate the broader public about this history now and in the future.

To accomplish this mission, Robin organized known descendants and allies to form the Descendants of the St. Louis University Enslaved, or DSLUE.  DSLUE is a registered 501 (c) (3) historical preservation and cultural education organization based in the St. Louis metro area. She is also a founding board member of the Maryland-based White Marsh Historical Society (WMHS), a descendant-led 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization dedicated to perpetuating the memory and heritage of the enslaved families that labored at the Jesuit-run White Marsh Plantation.  In 2023, the WMHS became co-stewards to ensure the over 600 graves of the enslaved families and their descendants found on the former plantation are properly memorialized.

In her free time, she loves to travel and attend live jazz concerts and festivals.