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Kelly L. Schmidt, Ph.D.

Kelly Schmidt leads the SHMR Project’s research effort to learn the identities and lived experience of the people whom the Jesuits held in slavery. She also coordinates the project’s genealogical research to connect living descendants of the Jesuits’ enslaved people to their ancestors. Kelly received her doctorate in United States History and Public History from Loyola University Chicago. She earned her bachelor’s degree at Xavier University, where she was an Honors Bachelor of Arts (Latin, Greek, and Philosophy) and History major with minors in Gender and Diversity Studies, Peace Studies, and Philosophy. Kelly worked for about eight years at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center as a docent, youth docent mentor and museum experiences specialist.