One of the talks I give is entitled, "Researching Formerly-Enslaved Ancestors - It Takes a Village!" The entire focus of the presentation is to share the different types of documentation, in existence, of the lives of the formerly-enslaved, and to encourage descendants of slave/property owners to become actively engaged and involved in sharing information, that may be in their possession and/or research notes, which would help to illuminate the lives and circumstances of once-owned human
property.
Today, while doing a search for something else, I ran across this site for Andrew Jackson's Hermitage Plantation, in Nashville, Tennessee. While perusing the site, it occurred to me (almost instantly) that THIS is a great example of the work that can be done to research, and then SHARE and EXPOSE the names and lives of our formerly-enslaved ancestors. The staff of this presidential property has taken the time to SAY THE NAMES and share the stories of many of the property's enslaved individuals. Here's just one example:
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https://thehermitage.com/learn/mansion-grounds/slavery/
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Not only are the names of the formerly-enslaved given on the site, but also there is a page showing the occupations and family groups of the people who lived and worked at the Hermitage! Yes, I said family groups!!!! (Click the link.)
The Hermitage property still has three slave cabins standing, one of which was the cabin of Alfred Jackson, a formerly-enslaved man who continued to live there until his death in 1901.
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Photo from The Hermitage web site:
https://thehermitage.com/learn/mansion-grounds/garden-grounds/slave-sites
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There is so much on this informative web site, I can't even begin to tell it all, especially since I stopped, shortly after finding it, to write this post! Not only have the stories of these formerly-enslaved people been brought to the light, but the staff at Hermitage have also created a digital archive to allow us to further examine the types of over 800,000 artifacts they've found, and to share the stories they tell. Wow! /Digital Archaeological Archive of Comparative Slavery
I believe that, though this is a large scale entity, and of public interest, it is a prime example of what I mean when I say, "It takes a village"! Kudos to the staff at Andrew Jackson's Hermitage, and to any and all researchers, archaeologists, historians, and anyone else who had a hand in putting this site together. I wish I'd known about this when I visited Nashville, a few years ago, but I didn't. I will definitely put this on my list of places to visit, if I'm ever in that area, again!
Renate
- The source of all information in this post is from the web site: Andrew Jackson's Hermitage: Home of the People's President https://thehermitage.com/ specifically from the section entitled, "Understanding the Other Families at The Hermitage. https://thehermitage.com/learn/mansion-grounds/slavery/
- The presentation, "Researching Formerly-Enslaved Ancestors - It Takes a Village" was created and is given by genealogist, Renate Yarborough Sanders, and may be scheduled by contacting me at yarsan@aol.com.
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