Rachel L. Swarns - Journalist, Author, and New York Times contributing writer

Georgetown University's Roots in Slavery

The first in a powerful series of stories about an elite American university’s roots in slavery. It is the story of an enslaved boy who was sold along with scores of men, women and children in 1838 to help save the college from bankruptcy. This authoritative exploration of Georgetown’s reckoning with its past helped to inspire a national conversation about universities and their ties to America’s system of human bondage.

Read the featured article in the New York Times

The Catholic Church and Slavery

Americans often think of the Catholic Church as a northern church, an immigrant church. But in the early days of the republic, the church established its primary foothold in the south. Nearly all of the orders of Catholic nuns established by the late 1820s owned black people. This powerful piece examines this history and tells the story of the nuns who are trying to make amends.

Read the featured article in the New York Times

American Tapestry

Michelle Obama's family saga is a remarkable, quintessentially American story, the story of one family’s journey from slavery to the White House in five generations. Prodigiously researched, American Tapestry traces the complex and fascinating tale of Michelle Obama's black, white and multiracial ancestors, a history that the First Lady did not even know herself.

“Extraordinary... No political [book] has ever looked or sounded like this one.”

— Edward Ball, New York Times Book Review

Purchase a copy now from one of these booksellers or at your local book store.

Unseen

Hundreds of stunning images from black history have long been buried in The New York Times archives. None of them were published by The Times--until now. UNSEEN uncovers these never-before published photographs and tells the stories behind them.

"This book brings the excitement of opening a time capsule, with powerful photographs and searching commentary by an all-star cast that gives us new and original insights into modern African American history.”

— Michael Beschloss, historian and bestselling author of Presidential Courage: Brave Leaders and How They Changed America 1789-1989

Purchase a copy now from one of these booksellers or at your local book store.

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About the Author

Rachel L. Swarns is a journalist, author and professor, who writes about race and race relations as a contributing writer for The New York Times. Her articles about Georgetown University’s roots in slavery touched off a national conversation about American universities and their ties to this painful period of history. She is an associate professor of journalism at New York University.

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