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October 21, 2008
FOREVER
Posted by Elvis Dingeldein.
My great-great-grandmother’s great-great-grandfather was a man named Minor Wilkes, who was born in New Kent County, Virginia, in 1734. He died in 1811, and left a will bequeathing to his many children various and sundry workaday items: a feather bed; a saddle and bridle; the odd cow and sheep; a whiskey still (though he declares, oddly, that “only my wife is to have the use of it”); a few calves and hogs. But scattered throughout Minor’s will he also passed on the following less-fungible property to his wife and children:
I lend my wife two Negroes Ned & Pat during her natural life; I give to my daughter Jincey Winn one negroe man Julis to her and her heirs forever; I give to my daughter Ann Winn one negroe man Stephen; I give to my daughter Patsey Winn one Negroe Girl Clary; I give to my daughter Susanna Wilkes one Negroe boy Dick; I give to my daughter Sally Snead…one Negroe Girl Lucy to her and her heirs and assigns forever…
Forever. How crushingly apt that promise must have felt to Ned or Pat or Lucy in 1811, the Emancipation Proclamation still half a century in their futures. And with what speechless wonder would they gaze upon the figure of Barack Obama, nearly two centuries after their lives and liberties were handed down like chattel in Lunenburg County, Virginia. But where the sight of a free African-American man standing at the threshold of our country’s highest office might have stunned them to awed silence, how effortlessly fluent that property of Minor Wilkes’s would have been in the fierce rhetoric stoking the fires of the McCain campaign and its feverish legions of “real Americans.” Ned and Pat, Lucy and Stephen would have no trouble deciphering the epithets and slanders hurled at this black candidate for president, and they would understand immediately that maybe things hadn’t changed in this country so much after all.
Like many white Americans of a certain social caste with deep roots in the antebellum South, I’ve always suspected my ancestors were slaveholders. It was an unconscionable but not uncommon joke on the Country Club fairways of my hometown in southern Mississippi that “those people” -- or the singular “that one” -- ought not get too uppity, as our great-great-grandfathers probably owned theirs, and they hadn’t had a steady job since. I grew up laughing at these jokes because adults did, because I didn’t know any better, because my parents and their parents were infallible. But until very recently -- until I found Minor Wilkes and his Last Will and Testament while on a search for my family’s shameful American roots -- I had no real proof that my forebears owned human beings, and they certainly had no names.
Ned. Pat. Julis. Stephen. Clary. Dick. Lucy.
Five “Negroe” men and two women. Handed down as property, with the hogs and the cows and the feather beds, to the children of Minor Wilkes and their heirs, forever. When my great-great grandmother’s great-great grandfather signed that document on March 9, 1809, it was notarized by Messrs David, William and Jesse Abernathy and became a legal document empowering Minor’s heirs to the lawful enslavement of seven human beings. They had names, and hopes, and dreamed of change. They had mothers and fathers and sisters and brothers, scattered to the four corners of a burgeoning Republic that had failed, 33 years before, to liberate all of those equally-created amongst us. That Declaration made a promise of parity once again under siege by agents of intolerance and the subtle noose of insinuation.
That my forebears owned black men and women bears no weight on my respect for Barack Obama or my decision to vote for him. I’m a proud American and a Democrat and Senator Obama most closely represents my political and moral ideology. That my forebears owned black men and women is, however, one of the many reasons I would never vote for Senator John McCain or his craven, feckless and vapid running mate. That an American politician could so easily forfeit his sacred and hard-won honor to the altar of race-baiting and fear-mongering in pursuit of office defames the memory of those seven Negro men and women in my own ignominious personal history, and sullies the House that for them and generations of their kin would always be White. If Barack Obama represents the Better Angels of our national character, then John McCain and Sarah Palin are those shoddier souls that would have our house divided, forever unable to stand.
Ask Ned. Ask Pat. Ask Julis and Stephen and Clary. Ask Dick and Lucy. Ask them how a house divided fell upon itself, and so ground its foundations to dust that a man like Barack Obama could see it united again in Change, and Hope. Forever.
Filed under: Barack Obama || Civil Liberties || Elvis Dingeldein || John McCain || Sarah Palin
Posted By Elvis | October 21, 2008 8:34 PM
Comments
Elvis, thank you so much for sharing that. I'm going to link to it from my own blog if you don't mind.
QT
Posted by: QueenTiye ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.bobcesca.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at October 21, 2008 9:20 PM
I'm in tears...
Posted by: theo at October 21, 2008 9:20 PM
Fungible. You got that from Sarah, din'tcha?
Seriously, amen. Beautiful writing. Liberals get me hot.
Posted by: jane at October 21, 2008 9:24 PM
Sniff.
Posted by: Paddy at October 21, 2008 9:26 PM
I look white. I mark 'white' on all the appropriate forms. I think of myself as white. But just a few months ago, one of my brothers was doing some family research on our father's side of the family, and discovered that we had African-American ancestors. My parents are from Virginia - maternal side is old, old money, paternal side is a little more backwoods hillbilly. There were slave owners on the maternal side - but what a surprise to find the African-American blood on the paternal side. I wish I knew more - the records are spotty, and much is left unknown and unanswered.
But I wonder about my African-American ancestors, and wish I could apologize for their enslavement by my relatives. I wish I could tell them that their descendant stands with so many others in this nation on the edge of history, when an African-American will become President of the United States.
And I wish it hadn't taken so long to get to this point. And I hope it won't take this long for the next barrier to fall, and the United States elects a woman as President.
Posted by: Sharktattoo at October 21, 2008 9:27 PM
Here you go, Elvis: http://obamaproject.windonwater.net/?p=236
QT
Posted by: QueenTiye at October 21, 2008 9:29 PM
Amazing, Elvis. A beautiful post. And I agree with Jane...totally hot.
Posted by: KatinWilm at October 21, 2008 9:32 PM
My God, Mr. Dingeldein. That was stunning.
And I think it's possible that the county over from me and up against VA is named after your ancestor.
Posted by: dontpanic23 at October 21, 2008 9:38 PM
Probably a good chance it was, Ms. DontPanic. My Wilkeses run long and deep in American history, and were rumored to be kith and kin of Elizabeth Wilkes, whose grandson was an actor and racist douchebag by the name of John Wilkes Booth. So I've got that going for me.
The story of how I came upon all these Wilkeses is a fascinating one, but I'll save it for another day.
Posted by: Elvis Dingeldein at October 21, 2008 9:44 PM
In high school, while I was still fascinated with the Civil War and States Rights, I used to announce proudly that my ancestors had not fought for slavery as they had owned none, as if somehow that made their acts more noble. Turns out I was wrong. My ancestors did not own many slaves, but they did own a few. Now I see the Civil War as one more time that America's poor were sent off to die for America's rich, all the while being told that what they were doing was for country and glory. Sad. Very sad.
Elvis that was beautiful. Thank you for it.
Posted by: Nanotyrannus at October 21, 2008 10:02 PM
This is as heart-rending as reading anything by Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, or Zora Neale Hurston. At the moment, I'm not proud to be an American.
I noticed this in William William's bequeath:
"one negroe girl named Jenny with her future increase"
Not only is one generation of slaves given away as property, but also their descendents. As Toni Morrison has pointed out, enslaved women, as childbearers, were far more valuable than men.
It's "forever" for the unborn generation as well.
Posted by: CycloCynic at October 21, 2008 10:04 PM
Bravo. I wish I had half as compelling a story, and that I would have half the skills you have to lay it out.
Posted by: Alan4s at October 21, 2008 10:05 PM
Elvis,
Amazing story and a stunning bit of writing. As compelling a piece on racism and politics as I've ever read.
Posted by: Strawdog at October 21, 2008 10:27 PM
Coffee-house applause: /\/\/\/\/\/\
Posted by: Matt Osborne at October 21, 2008 10:40 PM
Elvis, that was absolutely awesome
I've done some light research on my roots and found the white people who owned/birthed my not so far off ancestors
My great grandfather was born to a slave and master in Georgia, he was recognized by the master but as soon as he died the towns people made him leave with nothing
Posted by: MCat at October 21, 2008 10:45 PM
Well written, moving story.
Posted by: Groobiecat at October 21, 2008 10:56 PM
Perfectly written. Thanks Elvis.
Posted by: ch1naski at October 21, 2008 11:27 PM
This essay can be described in one word - Amazing. What a moving, thoughtful and honest approach to a dark history that more of us share than we probably know. Thank you for your contribution.
Posted by: D.T. at October 22, 2008 9:30 AM
wow....
Posted by: Pecos Bill at October 22, 2008 11:23 AM
Brilliant as always Elvis, thanks for making my day once again. If i knew how to "digg" something, I would digg this. Instead, I humbly offer you internet sex (or at least a few poorly chosen sexual double entendres). Just don't tell my wife and kids.
Posted by: JimmyJames at October 22, 2008 1:18 PM
Elvis, thanks for the eloquent post. I can totally relate. My white family has really old antebellum roots too in Miss, SC, Georgia, etc. I distinctly remember the first time I saw the wills and auction documents of my ancestors givng and selling their slaves. The hair on the back of my neck stood up and I felt nauseous. Thank heaven things are changing and we can judge by the quality of someone's character and not their skin. Someday we will all be free...free from slavery and free from guilt.
Posted by: Irish Girl at October 22, 2008 4:27 PM
Oh, BRA-VO!! *standing up and clapping* BRAVO!!!
Dude, I'm speechless. And that doesn't happen very often.
Posted by: jennifer pearson at October 25, 2008 10:52 PM
Oh, BRA-VO! BRAVO!! *standing up and clapping* Dude, I'm speechless. And that doesn't happen very often.
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