What happens when you discover in your family tree that you have slaveholding
ancestors don't be shocked let's talk about what you need to do to help others
and heal howdy I'm Devon Noel Lee with family history fanatics and we're going
to talk about that sensitive topic with Cheri Hudson Passey how are you I'm good
how are you thanks so much for having me I'm really really good and I know a
number of personal conversations and I've had with people in Houston it's
it's in the South but also viewers on our channel who don't know what you're
supposed to do and how you're supposed to process information when you discover
that you have slaveholders on your tree exactly it can it can be really hard the
emotions can be really hard it can be shocking because a lot of us are in
denial we think Oh our parents or our grandparents or whatever our ancestors
have never said anything about us having you know slave-owning ancestors couldn't
happen my ancestors would never do that they were too poor the list goes on and
on and on but unfortunately many of us no matter where we lived in the United
States will run across some kind of document that indicates that they did
either owned slaves or they were in some kind of industry where they were
supporting the system for instance I've got an ancestor that was an overseer oh
that was hard that was hard yeah because an overseer is the one that
inflicts the punishment because the owners could be delightful but what if
the overseer and it's like it doesn't say on the census record this was a nice
overseer I mean you can't you and I know that a lot of people think oh well if my
ancestors owned slaves they were good people you can't own a human being it
was the time we can't you know none of the things that our ancestors did
reflects on us we are not responsible we didn't live in that time
and we don't know what our our actions would have been but it's important to
know that when you find these documents do not hide it to not be afraid don't be
embarrassed don't think oh I can't add this document to my family tree what you
need to do is you need to transcribe all the information the location the
slave-owners name the name of the enslaved and get it out there on social
media if your blog make a blog post if you don't have a blog then find and find
an african-american page research page on Facebook and just add that in the
comment section just say this is what I found this is the place this is the
names of the owners whatever information may come you know sometimes letters and
books and things like that will actually give you physical descriptions and
that's an interesting thing so pull out in the information that you can find and
get it out there so they're descendants and can find them because they're
searching and they're looking and a lot of times we're researching this we're
researching the same family if your ancestor was a slave owner and there was
you know children that came from a union between the slave owner owner and an
enslaved person you're researching the same family
and you need to work together because they need all that information they can
get from the documents of that slave owner well I had a friend who would take
me to therapy all throughout the fall and he did discover that he had
slaveholding ancestors and he did just like you said okay but what he did was
he actually he found someone on ancestry who was a slave he was trying to
research that area and he said I have records for you I have records for you
and the person was so receptive he said she was in tears Oh exactly exactly we
need to have that conversation and work together if you've got something
and somebody contacts you through an ancestry tree or the DNA
more and more we're taking DNA tests and people were finding out that oh my
goodness I've got a percentage of african-american blood you know and
they're going to result reach out to you and you can work together to figure out
where that came from or it's because you've got that
connection with the slave owner so you might not have the african-american
blood but you've got that connection through the the slave owner so when you
get those questions answer when you get those emails that say you know we need
to connect I need your information don't be afraid
nobody's trying to say oh you know you're a bad person because your
ancestors enslaved my ancestors that's not why you're being contacted you were
being contacted to help them to reconnect with their family members I
really like that and I guess my thing was I remember there was a celebrity who
discovered that they had had slaveholding ancestors and then they
didn't want anybody to talk about their story do you have any thoughts on that
it's that it's that fear I think a lot and he was probably embarrassed and
thought maybe it would do something to his career but like I said we're not
responsible for our ancestors actions but we can do something positive with
the records that we find those names that are in those records the names of
the enslaved haven't been said for hundreds of years by us transcribing
writing them down and sharing them their names are we call it releasing their
names they haven't been spoken for years and they can be remembered and by you
doing that their descendants can do searches on the internet and hopefully
say for instance you have I'm from Sumpter South Carolina that's one of the
places where my ancestors lived if I post that I found a will from one of my
ancestors and I extract the names and put Sumter South Carolina
whatever the surname was if they get online in search because maybe they've
had a family story of I think my family was enslaved by maybe this person in
Sumpter and they search it bingo anything that I put on there
can maybe help them and so that's that connection that we need we are all one
family we we need to help each other there's not a you and me it's an us and
we need to work together so have you had any stories that you've been involved in
and see people from both sides of the slave question ruin your night and how
was it was it positive with it negative with it kind of awkward but they got
through it can you tell me a little bit about maybe one experience you've been
involved in or aware of well I myself in working with somebody now and we have a
common ancestor and she's been able to send me some things about her enslaved
ancestor and I've been able to go through the records that I've been able
to find on my ancestor and it you know it's it's just ya know it's a healing
process for me as I found that he was you know a slave owner and to know that
I'm helping in some way it's it's it isn't a bad thing it's not us against
them as I said it's it's a healing moment it's helping them find their
family and and knowing that I can do something to help I couldn't do anything
about the situation but I can do something now and that's kind of how I
looked at it I really like that we can do something now and I think it's
important that if we bring to life a story the positive that negatives and
understand the culture then we can see going further back this happen like why
would anybody think this way and not not necessarily to be judgmental like you
know no just essential but prevent it from happening again wouldn't you agree
I agree absolutely absolutely like I said this healing is good for all of us
it's just you know it's just it's amazing when you talk to people and they
have work together that healing and that sense of community and a sense of family
that you get and so I would encourage anybody don't like I said don't hide it
don't be embarrassed don't say oh I can't put that on my tree
I can't let anybody know I can't write that you know to be published it's it's
not something to be ashamed of yes it's it can be it can
hurt and you can feel embarrassed that your ancestors did you know did these
things but you've got to remember it was not to make excuses for there are no
excuses for it but it's not well it's well known responsibility or no
responsibility but we do have a responsibility today to get those names
out to help the african-american community find their family if you have
any more questions about healing and what did you when you find that you had
slave holding ancestors be sure to put it in the comment section below of this
video but you can also reach out to Cheri tell people how they can get a
hold of you sure my blog is carolinagirlgenealogy.blogspot.com
can get a hold of me there or you can email me Cherri at Carolina girl
genealogy com thank you so much and if you're ever a
part of a GenChat at she's active in GenChat and that's how we met exactly thank you
so much and we'll talk to you again soon