[Music]
when I was a kid I was kind of obsessed
with slavery it all goes back to 1977 I
was in third grade and I saw the
television miniseries Roots for the
first time roots was based on the book
by Alex Haley and it was an examination
of American slavery through multiple
generations of a single family it
captured my imagination it piqued my
curiosity and they got me thinking about
genealogy it made me want to know more
about myself I was only eight years old
at the time but I was determined to know
more about who I was through where I
came from now my paternal grandparents
both came from Southern Virginia they
met in high school
and to hear my grandmother tell the
story my grandfather fell in love with
her at first sight they courted they
dated they got married they had a family
and that was pretty much all I ever got
out of anybody about family history I
wanted to know more people really
weren’t willing to talk my grandmother
sat down with me at one point when I was
very young and she told me that her
grandfather was a slave and then she
told me that some things were just too
painful to talk about I didn’t really
understand what she meant at the time so
I didn’t push the topic and nobody ever
really talked about family history or
the past and all the things that I
wanted to know when I was a kid I never
had the chance to learn fast forward 18
years later my grandmother had died and
most of her generation was gone as well
there are only a few elders left in the
family and I knew that if I didn’t start
talking to people about the things that
were too painful to talk about history
would be lost so I sat down with the
elders that were still alive and I began
to ask questions I began to do research
I even took a trip trip back down to
rural Virginia where
my grandparents grew up I visited the
graves of my past ancestors and little
by little I began to piece together the
history of my family and little by
little I began to understand what my
grandmother meant when she said some
things were too painful to talk about
my grandmother’s grandfather a
grandmother’s grandfather my great-great
grandfather
Nelson Hancock was born a slave in 1855
this was approximately six years before
the American Civil War and approximately
eight years before Abraham Lincoln
issued the Emancipation Proclamation
freeing all slaves Nelson’s mother was
also a slave
her name was Leigh Leigh a more now
laelia more well laelia Moore was sold
to another plantation before Nelson was
five and according to family history
Nelson never saw his mother again
there’s not much known about Leigh Leigh
more other than what was passed down
through word-of-mouth everything that I
know about her I learned from people who
had learned from other people there’s
only one piece of documentation of her
existence and that is the 1850 slave
schedule slave schedules were
essentially property manifests that were
filled out in conjunction with the US
Census and everything that is actually
known factually known about Layla Moore
is from the 1850 slave schedule when we
look at this which is essentially my
family history right here you can see it
no no nice line there’s nothing about
Lillian Moore
we’re not even exactly sure when she was
born and we know nothing about her other
than the fact that an 1850 slave
schedule she was listed as the property
of John Douglas Hancock now John Douglas
Hancock was also the father of Nelson
Hancock making him my great-great
great-grandfather
now to be clear John Douglas Hancock and
laelia Moore were not married they were
not lovers and everything that we know
about slavery in America makes it safe
to hypothesize that their relationship
was non-consensual now if we take a look
at this family tree we start to see
something very interesting because again
lately and more we know nothing about
her but with John Douglas Hancock we can
trace his family back what another three
four hundred years he was descendant
from the first settlers to come to the
colonies to the Virginia colonies
there’s nothing about lately more it’s
as if her existence didn’t matter and
it’s not just some anomaly it’s not just
one little branch of the family tree
because if we go over and look at my
grandfather’s side of the family tree we
see something very similar we see myself
we see my father we see my grandfather
and my great-grandfather and were able
to trace the history of my family a
little it back just a little bit farther
to my fifth great-grandmother this is
Mary Henry that there is nothing known
about Mary Henry other than the fact
that she was born sometime around 1783
and that she was the mother of Moses
Rainey now what we know about Moses
Rainey
aside from who his mother was is who his
father was his father was a man named
John Rainey and John Ramey was guess
what his owner we look at this family
history this whole separate branch of my
family tree and we see the same thing
Mary Henry nothing about her beyond her
name we don’t know the name of her
parents we don’t know her ultimate fate
we just know that she had a son was
someone named John Rae me now John
Rainey by comparison we can trace his
family all the way back to 13th century
France he was descendant of French
royalty I can actually trace him back
further than 1200 except there wasn’t
really enough room to fit it on the
slide
I stand here before you the descendant
of slaves but also the descendant of
slave owners and let me tell you that is
a reality that is almost impossible to
wrap my brain around I am the descendant
of those that were oppressed and the
oppressors and the more I dig deep into
my family history the more I paint a
portrait of myself that is both
troubling and unbalanced because on one
side I’ve got slave owners that I can
trace back to 13th century France to
royalty and on the other hand I have
slaves there’s almost nothing known
about them as you as I sat began to
study the history of slavery in America
I realized that what I was studying was
the prolonged history of the
dehumanization of Africans and their
descendants
you see slaves were not considered
people slaves were property they were
bought sold and traded that is the
reality of slavery but it’s not the
truth of the slave the slave was never a
slave slaves were human beings who were
enslaved they were people who were
placed in a state in condition and a
word was used to describe them that
separated them from their humanity it
made them less than what they were and
this was the justification that allowed
for centuries of dehumanization of
Africans and their descendants and when
you were the descendant of enslaved
Africans you are the descendant of
people who’ve been denied their humanity
it’s as if their existence never
mattered no one took the time to
remember them no one took the time to
record their names
or their dates or their birth dates it’s
as if it’s as if millions of chapters of
American history have never been written
and never been told but on a personal
level I’m talking about my family I’m
talking about my 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th
great-grandparents I’m talking about
distant aunts and uncles and cousins all
of whom have been forgotten never told
their stories they’re missing which
means part of me is missing which means
that I’m incomplete now my grandmother
used to say that some things were too
painful to talk about if she was right
some things are too painful to talk
about
but that doesn’t mean that I won’t talk
about them I talk about the things that
are too painful to talk about because
there were millions of people my
ancestors included who were denied their
humanity and they need their humanity
restored I talked about the things that
are painful because today in the 21st
century we’re still dealing with people
being dehumanized we’re still being
dealing with people who are being
treated less than what they are simply
because of the color of their skin or
their gender or their religion or who
they choose to love I talk about these
things because I need to stake a claim
to my humanity because there are people
out there who still believe that I am
inferior and I talk about the things
that are too painful to talk about
because ultimately this is what we all
need to do we need to talk about the
things that are too painful because it
is the only way we can ever come closer
to finding peace between the oppressor
and the oppressed thank you
you [Music]
when I was a kid I was kind of obsessed
with slavery it all goes back to 1977 I
was in third grade and I saw the
television miniseries Roots for the
first time roots was based on the book
by Alex Haley and it was an examination
of American slavery through multiple
generations of a single family it
captured my imagination it piqued my
curiosity and they got me thinking about
genealogy it made me want to know more
about myself I was only eight years old
at the time but I was determined to know
more about who I was through where I
came from now my paternal grandparents
both came from Southern Virginia they
met in high school
and to hear my grandmother tell the
story my grandfather fell in love with
her at first sight they courted they
dated they got married they had a family
and that was pretty much all I ever got
out of anybody about family history I
wanted to know more people really
weren’t willing to talk my grandmother
sat down with me at one point when I was
very young and she told me that her
grandfather was a slave and then she
told me that some things were just too
painful to talk about I didn’t really
understand what she meant at the time so
I didn’t push the topic and nobody ever
really talked about family history or
the past and all the things that I
wanted to know when I was a kid I never
had the chance to learn fast forward 18
years later my grandmother had died and
most of her generation was gone as well
there are only a few elders left in the
family and I knew that if I didn’t start
talking to people about the things that
were too painful to talk about history
would be lost so I sat down with the
elders that were still alive and I began
to ask questions I began to do research
I even took a trip trip back down to
rural Virginia where
my grandparents grew up I visited the
graves of my past ancestors and little
by little I began to piece together the
history of my family and little by
little I began to understand what my
grandmother meant when she said some
things were too painful to talk about
my grandmother’s grandfather a
grandmother’s grandfather my great-great
grandfather
Nelson Hancock was born a slave in 1855
this was approximately six years before
the American Civil War and approximately
eight years before Abraham Lincoln
issued the Emancipation Proclamation
freeing all slaves Nelson’s mother was
also a slave
her name was Leigh Leigh a more now
laelia more well laelia Moore was sold
to another plantation before Nelson was
five and according to family history
Nelson never saw his mother again
there’s not much known about Leigh Leigh
more other than what was passed down
through word-of-mouth everything that I
know about her I learned from people who
had learned from other people there’s
only one piece of documentation of her
existence and that is the 1850 slave
schedule slave schedules were
essentially property manifests that were
filled out in conjunction with the US
Census and everything that is actually
known factually known about Layla Moore
is from the 1850 slave schedule when we
look at this which is essentially my
family history right here you can see it
no no nice line there’s nothing about
Lillian Moore
we’re not even exactly sure when she was
born and we know nothing about her other
than the fact that an 1850 slave
schedule she was listed as the property
of John Douglas Hancock now John Douglas
Hancock was also the father of Nelson
Hancock making him my great-great
great-grandfather
now to be clear John Douglas Hancock and
laelia Moore were not married they were
not lovers and everything that we know
about slavery in America makes it safe
to hypothesize that their relationship
was non-consensual now if we take a look
at this family tree we start to see
something very interesting because again
lately and more we know nothing about
her but with John Douglas Hancock we can
trace his family back what another three
four hundred years he was descendant
from the first settlers to come to the
colonies to the Virginia colonies
there’s nothing about lately more it’s
as if her existence didn’t matter and
it’s not just some anomaly it’s not just
one little branch of the family tree
because if we go over and look at my
grandfather’s side of the family tree we
see something very similar we see myself
we see my father we see my grandfather
and my great-grandfather and were able
to trace the history of my family a
little it back just a little bit farther
to my fifth great-grandmother this is
Mary Henry that there is nothing known
about Mary Henry other than the fact
that she was born sometime around 1783
and that she was the mother of Moses
Rainey now what we know about Moses
Rainey
aside from who his mother was is who his
father was his father was a man named
John Rainey and John Ramey was guess
what his owner we look at this family
history this whole separate branch of my
family tree and we see the same thing
Mary Henry nothing about her beyond her
name we don’t know the name of her
parents we don’t know her ultimate fate
we just know that she had a son was
someone named John Rae me now John
Rainey by comparison we can trace his
family all the way back to 13th century
France he was descendant of French
royalty I can actually trace him back
further than 1200 except there wasn’t
really enough room to fit it on the
slide
I stand here before you the descendant
of slaves but also the descendant of
slave owners and let me tell you that is
a reality that is almost impossible to
wrap my brain around I am the descendant
of those that were oppressed and the
oppressors and the more I dig deep into
my family history the more I paint a
portrait of myself that is both
troubling and unbalanced because on one
side I’ve got slave owners that I can
trace back to 13th century France to
royalty and on the other hand I have
slaves there’s almost nothing known
about them as you as I sat began to
study the history of slavery in America
I realized that what I was studying was
the prolonged history of the
dehumanization of Africans and their
descendants
you see slaves were not considered
people slaves were property they were
bought sold and traded that is the
reality of slavery but it’s not the
truth of the slave the slave was never a
slave slaves were human beings who were
enslaved they were people who were
placed in a state in condition and a
word was used to describe them that
separated them from their humanity it
made them less than what they were and
this was the justification that allowed
for centuries of dehumanization of
Africans and their descendants and when
you were the descendant of enslaved
Africans you are the descendant of
people who’ve been denied their humanity
it’s as if their existence never
mattered no one took the time to
remember them no one took the time to
record their names
or their dates or their birth dates it’s
as if it’s as if millions of chapters of
American history have never been written
and never been told but on a personal
level I’m talking about my family I’m
talking about my 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th
great-grandparents I’m talking about
distant aunts and uncles and cousins all
of whom have been forgotten never told
their stories they’re missing which
means part of me is missing which means
that I’m incomplete now my grandmother
used to say that some things were too
painful to talk about if she was right
some things are too painful to talk
about
but that doesn’t mean that I won’t talk
about them I talk about the things that
are too painful to talk about because
there were millions of people my
ancestors included who were denied their
humanity and they need their humanity
restored I talked about the things that
are painful because today in the 21st
century we’re still dealing with people
being dehumanized we’re still being
dealing with people who are being
treated less than what they are simply
because of the color of their skin or
their gender or their religion or who
they choose to love I talk about these
things because I need to stake a claim
to my humanity because there are people
out there who still believe that I am
inferior and I talk about the things
that are too painful to talk about
because ultimately this is what we all
need to do we need to talk about the
things that are too painful because it
is the only way we can ever come closer
to finding peace between the oppressor
and the oppressed thank you
you [Music]
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