College History Task Force

In July 2020 the St. John’s College History Task Force was tasked with researching the college’s past in order to understand its relationship to indigenous and enslaved people, and to make recommendations to the board on how that history should be acknowledged. Although most of this history took place in Annapolis, as the Santa Fe campus was established more than 250 years after the college was founded, this is not the history of one campus or the other, but the history of the college. Reflecting this, the Steering Committee of the Task Force has representation of all the roles that make up the college community.

College History Report

On November 1, 2024, the college released a historical report focused on the men for whom buildings on the college’s Annapolis campus are named and their association with the institution of slavery. Read the announcement. Read the report.

Discussion Guide and Comment Form

The Task Force would like to hear comments from the St. John’s College community on how the college’s history should be acknowledged. They have prepared this discussion guide as a tool. At the bottom of this guide is a form to provide your comments. The task force will consider these comments in formulating recommendations to the Board of Visitors and Governors on how the college’s history should be acknowledged. Comments will be accepted until December 12, 2024.

Wednesday, April 17, 2024: Panel Discussion—The Legacy of Francis Scott Key, Class of 1796

This panel event organized by the College History Task Force discussed the complicated legacy of Francis Scott Key, one of St. John’s College’s most notable alumni. Panelists included Professor Mark Clague, author of O Say Can You Hear?, Marc Leepson, author of What So Proudly We Hailed, and Professor William Thomas, author of A Question of Freedom, and moderated by Chanel Compton Johnson, Executive Director of the Banneker-Douglass Museum. Watch the panel here.

Presidential Testimony: Maryland Lynching Truth and Reconciliation Commission

On October 8, 2022, President Demleitner attended the Maryland Lynching Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearing, where she submitted testimony to the historical record regarding the 1906 lynching of Henry Davis. Read the testimony here.

College History Report Archive

Task Force Steering Committee Members