Unlike the ancient African griots that were the keepers of family history and tellers of stories of long past family and tribal events, today's family historian or story teller if you will, has the daunting task of sorting thru bits and pieces of information obtained from public records. Few of our families are fortunate enough to have access to the type of oral history such as that passed down in the story of "Roots" by Alex Haley. A great multitude of black slaves in America , having been bought , sold, and separated from family, possibly at birth or in early childhood, had no stories to pass on. They had no history to speak of.
The work of researching our black family history includes researching the history of our family's en-slavers.The amount of information obtained depends largely upon the paper trails of slave holders themselves. With this being said, it is a challenge that I am ready to take. the journey down this path began for me at a time when I started to question things about myself. Why am I the person that I am? Why do I do things the way that I do? Are there certain characteristics about me that are specific to me and my family?
To understand who we are and why we are who we are, we need to understand more about our parents, our grandparents and their parents before them. Simply put, we are the product of our forbears. The many circumstances and events that surrounded their lives is also apart of that which has helped to shape and mold our lives today. First and foremost we are survivors. Our distant ancestors survived the harsh "middle passage" out of Africa. They survived another 200 years of chattel slavery and yet another 100 years of "Jim Crow" up through the civil rights era. Secondly and most significantly, we are the product of our DNA, those hereditary traits and attributes passed down from generation to generation.
And so my journey began. I would seek out my ancestors and tell their story. As a child growing up in the 60's and before we were fortunate enough to afford a television for entertainment, we would sit around in the evening after dinner and before bedtime and listed to Ma and Daddy talking about when they were young and how things were back then. Dadd , having lost both his parents early in life, did not have as much knowledge of his extended family as Ma. Both of her parents and her father's mother was still living during that time. She recounted a stories about a distant relative that supposedly served in some war and reported having seen weird creatures while at sea. There was also a story of a great uncle that was murdered by angry whites after an altercation and the family not being allowed to move the body for days after the incident. There were stories of family members that changed their names for whatever reason and others that left the south vowing never to set foot in Mississippi ever again. These family members were joining the millions of black migrants who sojourned north and to other points in the US attempting to escape the racism and harsh living conditions in the south. They were also attempting to fulfill their dreams of a better life for themselves and that of their children.
With all of this being said, I decided to appoint myself as the official family historian and to get started at the task of digging up the family's history. In the words of Marcus Garvey, "A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots." When researching family, the rule of thumb is to start with yourself and work back in time. In the telling of my story I'll start with earliest known ancestors and move forward in time. Having limited time to devote to my research, this will be an ongoing process. I will continue to add information as it is acquired. To family and friends with any facts or tidbits to add, please contact me.
