Black History Month on the campus of The Catholic University of America opened with a powerful talk on the Catholic Church's past involvement in slavery.

Author Rachel L. Swarns discussed her book, “The 272: The Families Who Were Enslaved and Sold to Build the American Catholic Church" with a large crowd inside Heritage Hall on Feb. 1. Swarns has been touring the country, discussing the lingering impacts of slavery to this day and how she went about discovering previously obscured history. 

Swarns recently talked with Catholic University before the talk. Read that Q&A here.

View a slideshow of Patrick G. Ryan's photos from the event below.