“For us, Black Americans, it is so difficult to trace our families, and we have been so often taught to despise ourselves, our history, our blood lines, that it is not mere interest in where our families come from which is at point here, but rather, proving that we have had something to offer the world, and that we are not stupid, lazy, foolish entertainers, and mere tragic figures, that is the key in Black family history.”
This post is even more relevant now, than two years ago:
Tracing one’s family, particularly a family full of mostly Enslaved Persons, and some Free People of Color (free before the Civil War and subject to the Black Codes in most states), means learning the language of genealogy, and then learning your own family language, with names that run in families, especially middle names, and have certain meanings known only to the inner circle at that time. In order to survive, each of those People of Color had to decide and choose which hill they wanted to die upon: the hill of passing for White, in some cases, despite loosing family to do so, the hill of fighting to educate Colored people, despite the many hurtles, as my 2xs great grandfather and his daughter, in her turn, did, or the hill, today, of bearing the torch to help educate all…
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collaboration with learners 
Please click through to the original post on the ShiraDest blog for the full article about the OSP and one Black nun who was born Methodist, but found escape from poverty as a Catholic Colored teacher.
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Black Women’s History is often overlooked during Women’s History month. Project Do Better works, especially starting in Phase III, to repair this breach.
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