Scholarship Spotlight: Alana Petifer

Alana Petifer learned about her ancestry when she was choosing a graduate school. She had graduated from North Carolina Central University, an HBCU, with a degree in environmental and geographic sciences and wanted to continue that path. She told her grandmother she was leaning toward Georgetown. Her grandmother said, "You should check out the family tree on Ancestry.com. You're a descendant of Jesuit slaveholding on your mom's side." 

Alana learned she is a descendant of Issac Hawkins, one of the individuals sold in the 1838 transaction, giving her legacy status at Georgetown. She applied for and was accepted to the school's new Environment and International Affairs master’s program — and then applied for the DTRF scholarship.

"I think my ancestors would be amazed that their tribulations have been acknowledged," Alana said. "I believe they would be even more astounded that there is a scholarship to help with the educational pursuits of their descendants. They thought they would never be free, and now their descendants are being given a piece of power, which is education. I am very thankful for this scholarship."

Today, Alana walks the Georgetown campus, where many buildings were built by her ancestors and one building is now named after her direct ancestor, Isaac Hawkins. She says she feels a mixture of emotions. 

"What would have happened if my family were not enslaved? I think about that a lot," Alana says. "It's not common, but I know exactly who the enslaver was, and I often wonder: What if they hadn't done this?"