"A time comes when silence is betrayal..." Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
It's Juneteenth, y'all, and time to own truths.
My ancestor, Euphenia Derrick and her children, lived on the mainland across from Galveston on June 19, 1865. The land upon which they lived had been an outright gift to her husband, John Robert Derrick, from the Governor of the Republic of Texas, simply because he was white and arrived in Texas when he did. John simply applied for and received a "headright" of 640 acres (1 square mile). No strings attached. No "proving up" required.
"The Republic of Texas made many headright grants, that is, grants given on the condition that specified requirements be met by the grantees. Under the Constitution of 1836 all heads of families living in Texas on March 4, 1836, except Africans and Indians, were granted "first class" headrights..." https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/land-grants
Let's call this what it is -- a straight-forward example of white privilege. And members of my family continue to own land -- in that area -- that is directly tied to the legacy of John Robert Derrick.
John Robert died in 1859. The widowed Euphenia had four living children (3 died in childhood). In 1861, her eldest son, John William, enlisted in the Confederate Army at age 19. There were conscription laws, yet some 2,000 Texans did join the Union ranks -- John William wasn't one of them. Did young John believe in the Confederate cause? Did he think he had no choice with a widowed mother and three siblings? Who knows?
Though neither John Robert nor Euphenia are named in the 1850 or 1860 slave schedules as enslavers, Euphenia was right there, in the Galveston area in 1865, when her fellow Texans were refusing to emancipate their slaves. I can't help but wonder what she was thinking and doing during this time. Did she express any opinion to her friends and neighbors? Was she a supporter of slavery even though she owned no slaves herself? Was she in the closet about her opposition to slavery? Was she indifferent?
Numerous other lines of my family were large land and slave owners across multiple generations and states -- the Lees, Alstons, Cravens, Greers, Sinclairs, Gordys, Harwells, Hills, Bennetts in Virginia, Kentucky, South Carolina, Alabama, Louisiana. They owned people. They bequeathed people -- just another "asset" on their plantation -- to heirs in wills. I am still researching to try to learn about their actions at the time of emancipation. I am curious what happened to their slaves. Most likely they transitioned to sharecroppers and my ancestors continued to build wealth on the backs of their former slaves.
My ancestors' beliefs and actions are really just a curiosity for me. Their actions do not implicate or exonerate me. As a white American with white ancestors, I have benefited -- without any direct action on my part -- from our nation's history of enslaving African people and stealing Native American lands.
But knowing my personal family history does require that I understand and own the truths about how that history impacts my life today. Here is one example: The fact that wealth built by my Lee ancestors through owning slaves allowed them to pay for their son, John Bachman Lee (my 3rd great grandfather and enslaver, as well), to attend medical school is directly tied to the wealth passed down through the generations to me. (I won't even go into the laws and practices that specifically kept non-whites from positions of power or from gaining wealth, as well as even facilitating the burning to the ground of any wealth they did gain.)
What does "owning the truth" mean to me? The first step is breaking the silence and publicly sharing. I am also connecting with others on this journey by joining groups where descendants of enslavers and descendants of enslaved people are meeting and working together to uncover and own more truths. Through DNA testing, many are finding distant cousins across the "color line" and starting the healing by building relationships and community. It is an amazing journey of community building. So far, I have yet to find any descendants of enslaved people owned by my family. I hope I do -- as it can assist those folks in breaking the "1870 Brick Wall" that many black genealogists face. https://lowcountryafricana.com/the-1870-brick-wall/
If you are interested to learn more, I encourage you to watch The Cost of Inheritance and listen to The 1619 Project. I'll be adding tools and resources for learning your family's history with regards to slavery on the resources page of this site.
Happy Juneteenth! Let's celebrate and commit to the continued journey towards "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for ALL Americans." We are not there, yet.
Thank you Karen. I will watch the Cost of Inheritance and listen to The 1619 Project. Very interesting . Louise
Thank you Karen. I had information that my forth great grandfather willed his slaves to his daughters but not his sons.