CNN's Victor Blackwell visits the new International African American Museum in Charleston, South Carolina, where he traces his own family tree with resources from the museum's Center for Family History. #CNN #News
I’m a 71 yo white male. Born in Baltimore City Maryland. I was researching my ancestor today. I know my great grandfather father arrived in the US just as our Civil War was ending, but today I was able to go back to my great great great great grandfather and grand father. After watching your ancestral story unfold and the trials and hardships your ancestors had to endure I reached for my tissues way before you. You should and I am sure are proud at the strength your ancestors demonstrated in their years of anguish and suffering.
I want to pick up where my mother left off when she passed away in January 2022. I want to know my genealogy as well. She found some relative's up in P.A. not too far from where we are now in Harford county.(Hello my fellow Marylander btw✌🏾) I love stories like these and want my own.
As a white dude, this makes me tear up hard. I'm proud of the strength of that bloodline, fighting for what was rightfully theirs from birth, but taken away by pasty gout ridden monsters. It breaks my heart over and over again, knowing what my race did to another for centuries. It's brutal, but I'd rather have a broken heart from the truth of the matter, than a heart that beats through ignorance.
Oh WOW my brother; I've never heard it said better. Thank you for being woke and not the redefinition duh santis gives it. You made my day brother!!!!!!
I agree. I am a white person who has biracial grandchildren I love dearly. In my lifetime I have never looked down on someone because of race or ethnicity. I know it is a sad reality that many people do. I try and encourage everyone in my circle to do better. Be a better person and educate yourself. I can’t even act like I know the struggle of people of color. I just try to understand.
I agree, yet, if you research slavery, mor white folks were slaves than black in history. It's just in America where black history is so prevalent about slavery. Actually it all started in europe. I wish all races we aknowledged. Peace.
American slavery (is not indentured servitude) was meant to be perpetual; this was a forever position in life which laws were enacted to "keep them" ignorant. It was legal (on the books) to murder American slaves if they taught themselves to read and write (some did), if their "massas" taught them ("massas" would be severely punished but not murdered), or if they showed any inclination for advancement; this was deemed being an "uppity...". Keeping them generationally ignorant (for centuries) was one of the many means to keep American slavery perpetual.
The Virgin Islands were a slave trade hub,like a distribution center to the south and east of the U.S.,the slave quarters building still exist,they are stores now.i visited and read the hystory.😎🌴🐊
Calling them "slaver" or "former slaves" perpetuate dehumanuzing them AND their descendants; it also makes enslaving Black ppl seem like a natural right of their enslavers (not "masters").
*What about the Dehumanization of White Slaves* Will they explain to children that their ancestors hunted them and sold them into slavery for 1000 years and that the word *SLAVE is derived from White SLAVIC PEOPLE BEING ENSLAVED for 2000 years before blacks*
Yes, but I also found out the brits banned it, and the Americans made it into law. African didn't do that. Middle east didn't do that. Asia didn't do that.
I am a 70 yo white woman & I needed tissues! Of course we were taught about slavery in school (NJ) & even learned some spiritual songs in music class. We kids loved learning about a culture that was foreign to us. I was blessed being raised by parents who taught us that skin color didn’t matter. I was doubly blessed by being randomly roomed with African-Americans women who became my sisters, and embraced by them and others who exposed me to Black culture, foods & dance. But in all of this, this one episode of your story taught me the most. It showed the intelligence, drive, and courage of those held under the weight of slavers. No more. We cannot allow the oppression of any people any longer. Not only in this country, but throughout the world. Thank you for sharing your family story! Love & Blessings in Absolute Abundance! ✨💖✨
Modern day Republicans like Ron DeSantis in Florida have introduced legislation now banning instruction on U.S. history in an attempt to rewrite/whitewash it. Thankfully Almighty God knows who he gave America to, he knows who stole it, and he knows what he will do to rectify the situation. I hope to see the outcome!
Lovely sentiments from you both, but let me assert that while it sounds like a utopian idea, skin color definitely matters. It gives life to an ideology that divides, and conquers and breeds hatred. So to erase that notion and the ramifications is an erasure of the struggle of a people who have a history of being marginalized against. Skin matters. To say it doesn’t matter assumes the acceptability of sameness and that is just not a reality in our society bc we are not all the same…there is classism and caste, two very distinct social lines that divide people and we can’t pretend they don’t exist bc that delusion just perpetuates the victimization of the people who are historically marginalized against.
Totally love your comment ❤. I'm Cherokee & Irish, 77 yo this yr....tho I look white on the outside my heart is of the Indigenous Peoples. We definitely need the facts from the past to better bond, spread compassion & accept/embrace the reality we are all one race....human! My racist white religious fanatical relatives were intolerable, my grandmother used a whip on me as a child (as she did on 5 of her 6 children), a whip she boasted was the same her father used on 'his' slaves. With each bloody bruising slash she'd reel I'd cry knowing so many peoples were seriously more severely abused than I ever was.....& my heart just could not accept the hate of another human being. I've been chastised most of my life (a father pedophile who started when I was a baby, then passed onto others...), deemed 'unclean' & have been gaslight gossiped about since a kid so I wouldn't be believed if/when I told. My own children have gone the way of the herd mentality brain washing with my relatives interference. The hate in this world goes long & deep 💔 which robs us of embracing our diversities which makes us more pricrless, a treasure as a whole. The trail of tears is 2/10ths of a mile from my home where my maternal grandmother's family trailed the path of pain, neglect, disposal, disdain, etc., by those who decreed themselves superior. We desperately need Hugs....Not slugs! Open arms & learn from the past so we can embrace each other into the future in the realization we are ALL one & best we bond, enjoy one another as ONE rather than destroy ourselves in hateful division. HUGS2U ❤
OMG, Victor.! Amazing story. I’m a native Virginian and have always lived in VA. May I say that there must have been some brave witnesses and judges with integrity back then doing the right thing. Wow! 🥰
This is the kind of story that should be taught in public schools. It's not impossible nor will it be restricted by any state of the USA. This is a story of courage and intelligence, as well as the US court system.
schools need to teach the moors conquered and enslaved entire white nations does it teach settlements as far as Ireland had to be abandoned does it teach that by the time the civil war ended there were still over a million white slaves in the old Moorish kingdoms does it teach there is more slavery right now than at any other point in human history because they aren't doing it now
I remember when I was a teenager and my grandmother finally got a chance just me and her to break down my family history to me. Inside felt a lot like what kinds of emotions he was just displaying. Learning about your past and that you came from something, it means a lot.
It certainly means a lot. I did just the beginning of my ancestral search and going into their lives and the times they lived in made me thirst for more history of "The people who came and from whence they came". A man like they say is lost without his history. Ever wondered why verbal history is so important.
Black women have been fighting for our community since we got here to this day! Starting movements, leading protests, fighting for our freedom and our rights! From Harriet Tubman to Ida B. Wells to Fannie Lou Hammer to Rosa Parks! We come from strength and resilience put some respect on black women!❤
An amazing story! I’m grateful that my state of Minnesota doesn’t restrict the important historical facts taught to children in school. Shame on the states that do; depriving kids to learn about historical gems like this.
like hell it doesn't does it teach the moors conquered and enslaved entire white nations does it teach settlements as far as Ireland had to be abandoned does it teach that by the time the civil war ended there were still over a million white slaves in the old Moorish kingdoms does it teach there is more slavery right now than at any other point in human history
I'll bet Minnesota restricts the historical accuracy of The Confederacy and the Southern Cause for secession... Also it censors truth like all 50 states have done in destroying, censoring and removing Confederate Landmarks and the Historical Record.
I'm utterly confused. I do understand English, but let me get this right. Are you saying that American schools cherry-pick what parts of American history are taught? I thought I heard it wrong in the video, but now I read your comment, and what the hail!? Please tell me I've got this all wrong.
What an amazing story. Both of my grandparents on my mom's side of the family were the first to be born here in the US after their families moved from Poland and France. The number of times he said "great" before he got to the word "grandparents" blew my mind. It made me think about how long his family has been here in America. Then it made me think about when I hear people use phrases like, "go back to where you came from", and how high a likelyhood that the person who they're trying to shun away, has had family here longer than they have. Yet I'm only a 3rd generation American, and will likely never hear such a phrase directed at me, since I happen to match certain visual characteristics that somehow make some think my being here is more valid than someone else's presence here. Anyway, I'm not sure where I'm going here, lol. Just kind of airing my thoughts. I hope I get a chance to visit this museum someday!
You get it my friend: We people "darker than blue" born here still, here for generations... Yet anyone "white" comes tomorrow and gets treated... We get the ignorance, injustice... More, some have a higher vibration - like you.
This reminds me of so-called ‘Mixtecs’ or mixed Aztecs - the catch-all name given to the indigenous people of Mexico. They tend to come from tiny villages in mountainous or desert regions, where the Spaniards who took over Mexico left them largely alone. They live somewhat isolated and in extreme poverty by today’s standards. Some speak only their native language, which differs from village to village. Most people under 40 have had some kind of schooling, which would have been taught in Spanish. A lot of indigenous Mexicans now live in the United States, and a fair number of them are undocumented. These are people who usually speak two or three languages - their native language, Spanish, and English. Science has shown that bilingual and multilingual people have more neurons in their brains, essentially making them smarter than monolingual people, like most Americans are. Some Americans consider them inferior and even criminal for being in the US and want these usually very hard working people out, when they are native to this continent. Yet the racists who are so het up about “illegal immigrants” are descended from immigrants who came to this continent from Europe a hundred or two hundred years ago.
@@terredee So true! One of my German grandfathers came over in 1923 and never learned to speak English, yet he was treated with respect. We know why, unfortunately.
Great comment! When I heard Nikki Haley said that Senator Warnock, who is a black American, should be "deported," it was obvious that she meant deported to Africa. Haley is the first generation from her family, who emigrated from India, to be born in America, but Senator Warnock ancestors have been in America for generations.
I think it’s astounding that because of these careful records kept in the past people can now trace these diamond details - I think that for anyone, knowing about the journey of your families heritage and journey of survival adds to a person’s sense of self. It’s amazing that researcher’s methods are becoming so much more accurate. Amazing story.
Hopefully the museum contains the fact that slavery was the business of the democrat plantation owners who resisted every attempt to set the slaves free.
That is so great for Victor and his family! It shows that you never let anything OR anyone hold you back from what is meant for you! WOW! 1700-1800 black women rising up for their family!
They evidently had their freedom from the beginning it was stolen from them, but they fought back, and they got their freedom reinstated. Very strong women love the story, and I wish there were more with positive outcomes
Wow! Thank you for such a beautiful and heartwarming story. So sorry that slavery ever existed at all, so much unnecessary cruelty. I hope your family and all peoples who come from enslavement of any kind, triumph over this & all adversity. We are more alike than different.
Thank you Dr Tanya Matthews and CNN's Victor Blackwell for this video. I truly enjoyed it. He traces his family back to 1712 as free people. Not many black people can say that. Sarah, changed the trajectory (1705) of his family. Sarah made the lawsuit and he was able to see the actual lawsuit. In 1791, the court agreed with Sarah and the descendants of Mary and Beth. This was a great story for Victor to learn of his family. I love that Rachel found that out (1807) and they also were awarded their freedom. What a blessing to be women strong enough to fight for their freedom. You should now look for the other family members of the 18 children and have a great family reunion.
Hearing this story really warms my heart. I am so thrilled this was uncovered for you and all of us. Great Juneteenth story too! “None of us are free until we are all free”. We are one step closer to that deep realization for all.
What a tragic but remarkable experience your family went through, and what a happy resolution at that, twice over ! Bravo to the women in your lineage, and those witnesses that supported their stories, bless their souls and their descendants.
Am African, from Kenya. These kind of stories can be heartbreaking. It always feels like that is my brother, my cousin, my uncle... We can't change history but we can chat the future at our or terms. Viva
I'm floored, Victor. What a heartwarming story. To learn so much about your roots and in such granularity must have been overwhelming. I'm so happy the records were actually available to be found, and the details so incredible, that the women in your life put forth such effort at a time when we know it couldn't have been easy for them at all. It brought tears to my eyes. Thanks for sharing. Edited to add: I hadn't read any of the comments until I had written mine, and now that I have, the tears are flowing from this 69 y/o white man's eyes like water. It makes me even more determined to do everything I can to oppose my Gov DeSantis' efforts to erase Black history and the truth from generations to come, to keep from hurting snowflake white people's feelings. SMH!
As an African American, this story touches on a long-held question: Who in our ancestry made a certain decision that led our entire family on the trajectory to where we are today? If there were some way to teleport myself, I'd like to have a way to meet that person (or those people) and say to them, "See what we achieved and we became because of you?" and, "Thank you."
A quote from illegally abducted and illegally purchased African Cinque (or Sengbe), who is fighting not only for his own freedom, but the freedom of all of the other Africans who were aboard the ship The Amistad: "In this moment, I am the whole reason my ancestors have eixisted at all." He is speaking to former President of the United States John Adams, who is about to represent all of them in court. (The movie is still available on RU-vid for purchase. I highly recommend it.) Cinque's words really struck me hard. Those of us who honor our ancestors must honor our own lives and our own existence, the manifestation of ourselves on this earth, because: We who are living are the sum total of our ancestors on this earth. We are the whole reason they have ever existed at all. When we die, we will go to be with them. HONOR YOUR LIFE.
The story of America lives through the experience of its people. Thank you Victor for enriching our knowledge and kudos to this wonderful museum - more and more and more is needed to illuminate the past for present and future generations. ❤
It is important to teach this in our schools. That there were amazing and strong people who fought the wrongs done so their future family are given a better future. These women are so strong and he’s a blessed man. Great story. Blessings
That’s awesome! I recently found out that my great, great, great grandfather on my mother’s side came from Mexico and was one of the first settlers in the area where I was born and raised. There is a beautiful cemetery that was named in his honor. What I find amazing is that I was born around a mile where he was laid to rest! I was 64 years old when I found out, and was so very proud of him.
It has to be hard to look back and see the pain and suffering your ancestors had to endure knowing who you are and where you came from has to be an amazing journey
I once dated a German girl who was able to trace her lineage to the 800s through a huge book her mother had (the youngest of her siblings). I was rather fascinated. Later that day she asked me about my ancestors. She was shocked and horrified when I told her that most black Americans can’t go further than the 1860s. She didn’t honestly know why, so I opened her eyes to the fact of US chattel slavery and the US Civil War.
What an amazing story to hear! I’m not African-American, but as another American, I’m so proud of your family. I think these are the stories that are American History. And they need to be taught in all schools. God bless your family.
This is a moment in history that somewhat reframes your perception of history and is why I love reading, listening or watching history. This story would make a great movie. Unfortunately there are to many uneducated historically, politicians out there that wish for the children to be as ignorant as they are, and would fight against such a movie. A failure or mistake that you don't learn from is a waste and a sin.
Your story brought me to tears, as a 60 something black man eyes. This story could be a movie to help motivate those of us who need another push . To rise above are situation in life that are not fair ; but helping us as a people. To understand as a person, that life is not fair but we can overcome this harsh world.
I cried with Victor! This has the effect of making us, the whites, the blacks, the browns, Asians (I am Indian), feel connected... that in the end, we can all relate to such things, such emotions, such history. It makes us all feel like we are all part of a big family living on this beautiful planet called Earth!
@@tonisumblin2719 I am grateful for your feeling💗It's amazing that we COULD build such heaven on Earth but we mortals foolishly waste our time on fruitless things!
So wonderful to hear that witnesses stepped forward. How many situations would be different across the ages and today had individuals been willing to speak up.
It's quite likely those witnesses were Quakers. Part of the little known history of eastern Virginia is that there were many Quaker-owned farms and they were setting people free from the late 1600's and would sell land to anyone with money (unlike other whites who would block the sale of land to non-whites). In some cases, they willed land to former African slaves when freeing them. Slavery and slavers were not a monolith!
And what is even worse is the fact that even after it is legally mandated that people be set free, evil people would continue to keep them enslaved long past the ruling that states they should let them go. It also goes to show how oppression can still happen even when there is no law on the books that allow for a person to be oppressed. This is why systemic racism exists.
Thank you so much for sharing this with us. I think this piece should be shown or repeated in some other way as often as possible. Our history is our history some of it is difficult some of it is miraculous and some of it just is. Learning about our past connects us to each other and Lord knows we need to feel more connected to each other than most of us do. Again, thank you.
I love this. History is so amazingly interesting. I'm a white 67 year old woman and know very little of my ancestry. I only know what my grandmother told me. She said her grandfather brought his family to America from Germany prior to the war as he didn't want his children to be in it. I know even less about my Father's family as he died when I was an infant. My Mother went to stay with her parents for support. Thus, contact with my fathers family was no more. I've felt adrift my entire life.
Y’all I can’t believe all of this and just Yesterday me and my husband found out that this beautiful educated man is my husband cousin we cry yesterday and to find out that we were sitting right beside his mother what a beautiful story God is so Good 🙏🏾
Totally fascinating how far back this heritage is tracked - great story! Also agree with the commentary that today’s education boards AND legislators are doing everything possible to suppress these resources…
That is an AMAZING story & fascinating that she was able to go back that far. Just imagine what we could find out if we all were able able to look back that far…my parents were immigrants to Canada so for me it’s been hard to find out a lot about their histories back home.
Keep searching my cousin served in WW2 and when he came back home to Virginia he started searching the olde way, by the time he passed at 93 in 1995 he had complied three thousand pages from courthouses in the Virginia and the East Coast plus three trips once a decade to England and Germany. He got one branch the Albert's back to ABOUT 800 AD in German Alps. My mother retired and spent 20 years digging through different databases as they came online (90s), pushed back to 1066 the Norman invasion of Britain and 1000 AD in Wales, pushed five Branches back to the 1000s. It can be done from your own home today. All totaled she used about 100 databases. Well she always was a History Geek 🤓.
@@ablewindsor1459 and records for some do exist in Africa. Especially the coasts were quite civilized as in keeping records then selling the less civilized mainly interior into slavery. But there were civilized places in interior as well. Conditions thanks to heat and humidity make for poorer document survival plus falling appart of governments over time. This story sounds like it starts with two legal immigrants who came over for same reason whites immigrated. Note Dr Livingstone was sending and receiving mail and relief supplies sent in from the coast. I have read Stanley's history and don't know why he simply did not follow the mail to get a good route to Livingstone. He went cross country. Probably something like non citizens of the many small states not allowed though certain areas. Not exactly primitive people living in huts when there a mail system and a package system going. Will say in places though it was caravans carrying it. There were or had been lots of more primitive tribes as well. But it was a mix of primitive to fairly modern for the time. Was patchy going from civilized to primitive in many areas.
im up here in Portugal crying just imagining how strong, resilient, brave and beautiful these Women were...i hope America finds its way again and never forgets so it never happens again.
Mr. Blackwell may be one of our distant relatives also. Our family has been in what is now known as Lancaster county, formerly part of Northumberland county. Our family dates from 1655 with our ancestor Yaconohawkin Nickaneceny. We are part of the group of black/native indentured/free persons that are never mentioned in history books.
That was done by design. If the majority of so-called black Americans knew their ancestors were born free, then enslaved on their own ancestral in America, there would be a real revolution to get the land back. African-American is a big misnomer. We are American Indians socially reclassified by the government as colored persons, negros, mulatto, blacks, and now African Americans.
This is the story of humanity, immerse in it if you're white like me or no matter what you are. Most of my family came here long after slavery, part of it fought to end it, but the long fight of the black Americans is not over and we have to help. You'll be in awe, so much of your national heritage, so much awakening. I would also add the Native Americans to this category. Both groups persevered and survived, both teach us what it means to be true Americans and humans.
is funny you don't say for the people who are slaves now more human slavery now that at any other point in human history yet we must fight for the people who enslaved us thats right the moors conquered and enslaved entire European nations by the time slavery ended in America there were still over a million white slaves in the old Moorish kingdoms settlements as far as Ireland had to be abandoned due to raiding
@@paulnewkirk7351 very sad, and that actually is/could be my heritage. Truly the first Americans sold into slavery were Native Americans captured by other Native Americans
The fact is that none are clear of their heritage sins. The lesson is, do not repeat those wrong doings. We live in a nation that in its infancy fought off the governmental control of our way of living and faith. We also fought against excessive taxation without representation. What I see in America's future is because of greed, we sell ourselves to the government. The same greed that brought about the slave trade. I see it coming and it's picking up speed. I hope that this wave of destruction can be avoided, but the natural man wants that which he cannot afford and will sell his soul to get it.
@@paulnewkirk7351 - Well said and I agree. Greed and the endless pursuit of progress, growth, innovation, technology for monetary PROFIT, PROFIT, and more PROFIT on a planet that has FINITE, not infinite resources, is killing the earth's biosphere. The earth is in hospice now. When it dies, we all die. For readers who do not understand what I am saying, read "Overshoot" by William Catton. You will then understand the real reason for the collapse of our climate and our civilization. If I am right about where all of this is going to end, I will see you on the other side @paulnewkirk7351.
Great story. I'm sorry for all of the suffering your family was put through. Thank God for the strong women. Thank God for truth and justice, and may that be the way forward.
