Community Engagement

In keeping with our mission, DSLUE endeavors to engage with descendants of Jesuit enslaved ancestors located around the country and the world, as well as other support networks of descendant groups, advocacy organizations, grassroots coalitions, academic institutions, researchers/historians, scholars, genealogist, faith-based organizations, and legislators.  This is done through research initiatives, at conferences and symposiums, projects and panels, reunion events, and ceremonial programs.

Dr. Omekongo Dibinga, Dr. Julianne Malveaux, Atty. Areva Martin, Robin Proudie, and Dr. Christopher Tinson
DSLUE Press Briefing and Teach-In
Feb. 8, 2024
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Descendants participate in escavations of former Jesuit plantations in Maryland
St. Mary's County, MD.
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DSLUE Host Booth at the Urban League UrbanExpo
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Vaninterview
DSLUE MEDIA INTERVIEWS
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Pastor Gregory Holley and DSLUE at the Urban Expo
DSLUE in the Community
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WRSTLRAP
DSLUE Participates in the We Are St. Louis Storytellers Project
University of Missouri St. Louis (UMSL)
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Robin Proudie teaches about Saint Louis University's ties to Slavery.
DSLUE Educating at SLU
St. Louis, MO.
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DSLUE Founder, Robin Proudie and Dr. Kelly Schmidt consulted on the Slavery in St. Louis Exhibit
DSLUE Provides Input for the Ulysses S. Grant Historic Site
St. Louis Slavery Exhibit
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DSLUEs ,Robin Proudie and Safiyah Chauvin, thanks Jeremy Krock, founder of the Negro Leagues Baseball Grave Marker Project, for his gracious donation. Ancestor Sylvester Chauvin was born into slavery at Saint Louis University, and buried at Calvart Cemetery. His Mother, Henrietta Mills, born into slavery at Saint Louis University along with her 5 siblings are also buried in unmarked graves at Catholic cemetaries around the St. Louis metro area. DSLUE will raise funds to ensure that each of their ancestors receive a proper headstone.
Headstone Dedication for Sylvester Chauvin I (1860-1905)
DSLUE Ancestor Dedication at Calvary Cemetery, St. Louis, MO.
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DSLUE presents at the Universities Studying Slavery Conference.
DSLUE Presents at Universities Studying Slavery Conference
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
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Descendant Kevin Porter bare witness to abandoned graves of ancestors. The land was once a Jesuit plantation called White Marsh.
Descendants of Jesuit Enslaved Ancestors attend Prayer Service for Abandoned Ancestor Buriel Grounds
Sacred Heart Church, Bowie, MD
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DSLUE Ancestor, Louis Ignatious Chauvin, was considered one of the most gifted performers and composers of his era. He has three published works, "Heliotrope Bouquet" (with Scott Joplin,1907), "The Moon is Shining in the Skies" (with Sam Peterson, 1903), and "Babe it's Too Long Off" (words by Elmer Bowman, 1906)
DSLUE Ancestor Ragtime Prodigy Louis I. Chauvin
(Feb 24, 1884- March 26, 1908)
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Mayor Tishaura Jones, and Neal Richardson of the St. Louis Development Corporation presented the Urban League with $10 Million in New Market Tax Credits for Community Development.
DSLUE Supports the Urban League of Metro St. Louis 105th Annual Dinner and Gala
Saint Louis, MO.
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The Descendants of the St. Louis University Enslaved, Inc., is a registered 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization.

  • 11469 Olive Blvd., #164, St. Louis, MO. 63141
  • (314) 439-6272
  • info@dslue.org
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© 2023 Descendants Of The St. Louis University Enslaved, Inc.
All rights reserved.

Image of Founder, Robin Proudie

Robin A. Proudie

Founder/Executive Director

Robin A. Proudie a native St. Louisan, served seven years in the U. S. Navy, and 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.

Robin has held positions with the Department of Justice, serving as a special assistant to the Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, and she supported mediation for communities in conflict as a specialist at the Community Relations Service.  She also served as a confidential assistant with 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, to repair historical harms that impact descendants today, 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 descendant-led 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization based in the St. Louis metro area.  

Robin is also a founding board member of the Maryland-based White Marsh Historical Society (WMHS).  The WMHS is a descendant-led 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization dedicated to perpetuating the memory and heritage of the enslaved families that labored at the former Jesuit-run White Marsh plantation. In 2023, the WMHS became co-stewards of an abandoned African American burial site to ensure upwards of 500 graves of enslaved families and their descendants are properly restored, preserved, and memorialized.