As a child, I was taught to think about Thanksgiving not as a day of food, but as a day to be thankful for those who went before me. Yes we had the food with all the trimmings but the Elders made sure that we heard the story of the family. How the family survived against all odds. How our ancestors ( on my grandmothers side) from Northern Africa where called the Pride of Ehiopia. How they came to the new land, not as slaves, but as freemen. They somehow ended up in South Dakota. Made families with the local Natives there. From there they traveled with their families through Tennessee into Alabama. Some stayed and lived on a reservation in Alabama. These people became the Palmers, Smiths, Blackfoot. The rest traveled the Appalachians and ended up in the lower part of Maryland. They married Nanticokes and settled in with them. My grandfathers side started out of Canada. Some settled in Connecticut, New York and New Jersey. Others made their way down into Delaware. These are the Lenni-Lenapes. My grandparents, along with their siblings told stories a boy the Removal Act. How many family members where lost. How some ended up in Indian Schools. They heard of family members who now live a place called Oklahoma. Some hid and made their back to Delaware and New Jersey. Started rebuilding their lives. The Jacksons, Coveys, Maars, Wilmoors, Sulcomes, Mills and Williams, Jones and Smiths. They made sure that we knew about their struggle through the Great Depression, Whooping Cough, Civil Rights. How some family members got over by passing for White, while other passed for Black. Keeping their Native identity to themselves and only close friends. My family still live where most settled... Maryland (along the Chesapeake River. Upper part of Delaware. Bridgeton, Vineland, Atlantic City ( Kentucky Ave.) New Jersey. Philadelphia, Pa and Connecticut. These are my ancestors. I re-tell their stories, while adding the stories of my children other ancestors ... The Williams, the Hylands. We will give thanks to them.
Posted on: Thu, 28 Nov 2013 19:50:39 +0000
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