PICTURED Heath Thomas ’21 translates Latin text.
By Emelie Inderhees P ’33 ’35 Middle and Upper School Latin
“It was fascinating to read first-hand about how the author viewed the local Native Americans. The priest described the troubled upbringing of the Indigenous man and his reception into the Jesuit mission. As I finish translating these documents as part of my Senior Independent Project, I will continue to evaluate how these narratives and fragments are shaped by those who wrote them.” ~ Lily O’Brien ’20 worked on translating a letter which detailed an Indigenous man’s conversion to Catholicism.
32
THE JAG • 2020
Uncovering history is challenging for Latin teachers and students in much the same way it is for social studies classes. Over the past two millennia, Latin has been used by many cultures who enslaved individuals for their own benefit. Routinely reading primary texts with engrained proto-racism, racism demonstrated by cultures before the transatlantic slave trade, without addressing it can give the impression of support or approval. In an effort to combat this issue and to give my students the opportunity to be agents of change, I eagerly accepted a new challenge. Jumping forward almost 2000 years into the future from what they normally read in a Latin class, students were given letters written in the 1840s by Jesuits in Missouri. The documents were provided to us by the Slavery, History, Memory, and Reconciliation Project out of St. Louis University. The goal of the project is to create a database for the descendants of the enslaved individuals of translated documents written by or referencing their family members. Additionally, historians and researchers may use the database to further our country’s understanding of slavery before the Civil War. One of the many obstacles we faced as translators involved learning terms that we’re specific to Ecclesiastical Latin as opposed to the Classical Latin were accustomed to. Many students were frustrated by the limited lack of references to enslaved individuals. We discussed why they were so infrequent and how important it is that the documents are translated. It is our hope that each of these small references builds upon all the others to create a meaningful history for those whose stories have not yet been told. While 7th grade social studies students created simulated primary texts, Latin classes focused on making primary texts available to those who could find comfort or greater understanding in their words. Both scenarios used the idea of primary documents but worked to change the focus; evolving the curricula into something that more powerfully resonates with our students.