What to Expect When Visiting A Plantation Where Your Ancestors Were EnslavedIn November 2018, I took
What to Expect When Visiting A Plantation Where Your Ancestors Were EnslavedIn November 2018, I took a day trip with my father and sister to a former slave plantation in North Carolina. A relative who lives nearby had picked up a brochure from the site and informed us that Black people who shared our last name had been enslaved there and that the site’s curators maintained genealogical records. Given that our great-grandfather had lived in that part of the state before migrating to western Massachusetts, where my father, and then his children, grew up, it seemed worth the trip to investigate potential connections to some of our people.Before the journey, we imagined ourselves ready for the experience, but the reality of standing on the soil where our direct ancestors were enslaved was much heavier than we were prepared for. It wasn’t merely contemplating our own connection to the site, but also witnessing other visitors’ vastly different relationships to it that made the experience so intense, and at times painful.After our trip, my father stayed in contact with the site’s genealogist. Through their shared records, he was able to trace our family line back to a woman named Martha Hart. She was my great-great-great-grandmother, and part of the last generation of slaves held on the plantation we had visited.Continue reading: Getty Images -- source link
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