Considering My Ancestors of the 19th Century

Many of us experience a deep angst and frustration in our bones with the slow advancement of Civil Rights in the United States of America. I say this as one born during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s, and less than a century after the supposed end of racialized chattel slavery. In childhood, I often wondered how such an evil as white body supremacy could last so long. I now recognize that this complex systemic evil exists because too many recognize the lies of whiteness as their only “asset” instead of our shared humanity.

After retiring, my father’s primary hobby was genealogical research on our family. He took such pride in what he learned about his ancestors and those of my mother. In reviewing his work, I began giving thought to the people identified and the context of their lives. Placing them in context helps me to understand the angst and frustration in my bones, as well as the collective hunger for freedom, justice and equity. This post is longer than most but I think it worthwhile. It concludes with questions to assist you in processing the content.

As an infant, I was held by three of my great-grandmothers, one great-grandfather, three grandparents, parents, and countless other family members and friends. As a young child, my narrative was interwoven with their lived experiences, and the lives of our shared ancestors whom I never met.

The four great-grandparents mentioned were born in Alabama in 1876, 1891 and 1893. As an idealistic and naïve child in a Black body, there was a sense of gratitude that they had not been enslaved. The same was not true for all of their parents or any of their grandparents who were born in Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia.

Of the 16 grandparents of my grandparents, nine were born as enslaved persons with their dignity denied before the Civil War began. These include Henry, Amanda, Thomas, Flora, Cesar, Laney, George, and two known only to God at this time.

Henry was born in May of 1845, the same month in which Frederick Douglass’ Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave was published. Henry, Amanda, Thomas, and George were born before Harriet Tubman escaped enslavement in 1849, before Sojourner Truth delivered “Ain’t I A Woman?” in 1851 at the Women’s Rights Convention, and before Douglass delivered “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” at an Independence Day celebration in 1852.

Flora was born one year after the Supreme Court ruled on the Dred Scott case. Fannie was born a year after the Civil War began on April 12, 1861 during the presidency of Abraham Lincoln. Also in 1861, Harriet Tubman left Canada to return to the United States where she enlisted to serve as a nurse , and eventually a spy, in the Union army. Douglas recruited men in Black bodies to fight for the Union.

Amos was born one year after the U.S.-Dakota War ended and President Lincoln authorized the hanging of 38 Dakota soldiers on December 26, 1862. A week later, he issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. In 1864, while working with the National Freedmen’s Relief Association Sojourner Truth met with President Lincoln at the White House. During the same year, Truth and Tubman met each other for the only time.

Olivia was born after the Civil War ended and after the murder of Lincoln, both in April of 1865. Two weeks before her birth, the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery was ratified on December 6, 1865 despite the efforts of President Andrew Johnson. Four months after her birth, the the House of Representatives overrode President Johnson’s veto of the Civil Rights Bill of 1866. It declared that all people born in the U.S., except for American Indians, were U.S. citizens with certain inalienable rights. This was the first legislation to address Civil Rights in the nation.

Two years later, Johnson became the nation’s first president to be impeached in 1868. In the same year, the 14th Amendment was ratified extending the Bill of Rights to formerly enslaved persons, and the Emancipation Memorial was unveiled in Washington, DC. It was funded by donations from emancipated African-Americans.

Charley, and Willie were born, in 1870, months after President Ulysses Grant signed the 15th Amendment thereby giving the right to vote to all male citizens. Months later, Georgia became the last of the former Confederate states to be readmitted to the Union. In the same year, Congress established the Department of Justice.

Mary and Mary Ann were born before the end of Reconstruction in 1877. With the subsequent departure of Union troops in southern states, my ancestors in Black bodies witnessed a violent suppression and denial of their recently attained rights, and liberation. This began the brutal enforcement of segregation also known as the Jim Crow era.

o   Where were your ancestors during this period of time?

o   If in the United States, how would they have been impacted by or responded to the events noted?

o   What would it have been like to live through the Civil War, Reconstruction, and Jim Crow?

o   If not in the U.S., what events were unfolding in your ancestors’ national context?

o   Today, how are we responding to the signs of our time?