Heritage Day

A beloved friend of ours grew up in the South, the descendant of a slave woman and a plantation owner.  Janet had it better than most, since her great grandfather loved her great grandmother and when he died, he broke all the rules and gave quite an inheritance to Janet’s grandmother.  She not only was given a house, but she was given the rare opportunity for higher education.  Their family has much to be thankful for, having been given such a leg up when the days of slavery were over. Janet, her mother, and grandmother all attended private colleges and Janet’s sister even went to Julliard School of Music.

Janet’s only descendants are three grandchildren now in their 20s.  Her only child died of cancer a few years ago.  Since these “Grands,” have been raised in the Pacific Northwest, they have no clue of the world Janet or their mother grew up in, where segregation was the norm and blacks were considered so much less than whites.  They live with modern day prejudices here, but they’ve been spared the culture of the deep South from decades ago. They’ve never even seen a southern plantation and even though Janet’s told them her great grandfather was a wealthy cotton farmer and a three term Georgia State Legislator, it hadn’t registered as anything meaningful for their lives today.

Because Janet is pushing 80, she’s worried that by the time her grandchildren are old enough to care about their family’s unique history, she might not be around to share it with them.  She’s been documenting as many details as she can find as she figures, if it’s not written down, it will certainly be forgotten.  I couldn’t agree more.

In the midst of her documenting, she came up with the idea to host a “Family Heritage Day” on a quarterly basis.  She started with just one set of great grandparents - Priamus Jones, her Cotton King great grandfather and his slave, Moriah.   

Her first “event” for the grandkids and a niece was this past week and she big dealed it.  She fed them foods from Georgia. They watched snippets of “Gone With the Wind,” so they’d know what a plantation looked like.  She had them feel the prick of cotton still on the stem and gave them small remembrances of their roots.  She passed out copies of documents and showed them photos they’d never seen.  She unfolded the family stories, one more time, but with more purpose. She hung names of the generations on a “family tree” and answered their many questions. 

This new, younger generation, was finally awakened to their unique family’s story.  Their personal history was made relevant.  And they realized too, maybe for the first time, that they will leave a legacy someday.  Perhaps in taking a quick glimpse back into how far their family has come, it will help them strive just a little more to take the next generation even further.

Every family has a story.  We all could benefit from such an experience.