We, white family genealogists, must make good faith efforts to search our own records for slave names

My friend and cousin Derry sent this to me this morning and it fits in with what I have been thinking. This is what she wrote:

Hi Sally,

Glad to hear the article led you to create a blog. What a good idea.

We lived in Germany for several years during the 1960s. I was very
interested in the way the Germans went about educating their people
about the horrible events of WWII. Their newsreels and documentaries
spared no one's sensibilities. Not much room for denial.

It seems to me that admitting what the consequences of legalized
slavery might be to later generations is difficult but necessary if we
are ever to get our heads straight about what it is to be American.
It is really hard for me to admit that slavery is part of our
heritage. And the too common attitude that Aw shucks it wasn't so bad
is really shabby. So good for you girl . You are facing it with
facts. And most important they are facts that will be valuable to
other people.

Love,
Derry
On Oct 15, 2009, at 3:25 PM, Sally7143@aol.com wrote:

____________
The reference to Germany is relevant and we Americans are in need of a national conversation about our greatest shame. The Gates article is a good start. But after the summer of screaming, gun-toting, Obama hating protesters, and a "You lie" yelling Congressman, in a climate like this who could possibly imagine a group of people who could talk to each other about gently, lovingly, kindly, compassionately, peacefully doing something positive and useful toward healing our wounds?

We can. Genealogists: amateurs, professionals, corporate, religious, academic, local, international, etc.


We, you and I and all of us can lead this as a significant gift of good will and respect to the cause of human rights and respect for everyone's right to know their own family. Genealogists can lead a gentle revolution of love and care and respect by demanding more from our own professional community and more from ourselves to offer our services and find new ways to make this information far more accessible than it has ever been.

There is no excuse for us to have to dig so hard for what is hidden and ignored in big archives such as Ancestry and the LDS and many other storehouses.

Genealogists lets open up and locate those slave names. Those names are not buried under sands of Ethiopia waiting for archaeologists to find them like the skeletons of Lucy or Ardi. They are there if we force the big data bases to go back and look for them.

And most important of all, we white family genealogists, must make good faith efforts to search our own records for slave names. We must do this for our own sakes and for the soul of our country. It is that important

The reference to Germany is relevant and we Americans are in need of a national conversation about our greatest shame. The Gates article is a good start. But after the summer of screaming, gun-toting, Obama hating protesters, and a "You lie" yelling Congressman, in a climate like this who could possibly imagine a group of people go about gently, kindly, compassionately, peacefully doing something positive and useful toward healing our wounds?

We can. Genealogists: amateurs, professionals, corporate, religious, academic, local, international, etc.


We, you and I and all of us can lead this as a significant gift of good will and respect to the cause of human rights and respect for everyone's right to know their own family. Genealogists can lead a gentle act of reconciliation by demanding more from ourselves to offer our services and find new ways to make this information far more accessible than it has ever been.

There is no excuse for us to have do dig so hard for what is hidden and ignored in big archives such as Ancestry and the LDS and many other storehouses. Those names are not buried under sands of Ethiopia waiting for archaeologists to find them like the skeletons of Lucy or Ardi. They are there if we force the big data bases to go back and look for them.

And, most important of all, we, white family genealogists, especially those of us with Southern roots, must make good faith efforts to search our own records for slave names. We must do this for our own sakes and for the soul of our country. It is that important.