Running into the Past

 

I grew up in Moline, Illinois which was “The Farm Implement Capital of the Word.” John Deere has its headquarters and factories in my hometown. Living in “The Land of Lincoln” meant learning about our famous President and the Civil War. I think I was in the fourth grade when I first learned our country had slaves. Up until that time, I thought our country was perfect. “Why did our country have slaves?” I asked my teacher.

She replied, “Well, people were different back then.” Which did not answer my question, “WHY?” Our class had learned earlier that our nation was founded for “freedom” and “liberty.” We learned about the Declaration of Independence - “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal...” My fourth-grade brain couldn’t understand why those words did not apply to slaves.

I didn’t ask the question again. I sensed that the teacher was not interested in, nor comfortable with, my question. Yet, as a child, I wanted to understand why some people were enslaved and treated horribly while others were not. Once I asked my mother why the Nazis murdered millions of people. Her response, “Because they were Jews.” So I asked, “Why Jews and not Lutherans?” Her exasperated response, “Just because. Now stop asking questions!”

I am sure I was, and still am, a “pest” asking questions no one wants to answer. I eventually learned not to ask them … out loud. I often heard, and still hear, the phrase,“It’s in the past. Who cares? Move on.” Today I would have been called a “woke” child.

By the time I was in high school, I was wide awake. I graduated with 8 semesters of “social studies.” My favorite classes were “American Problems” and “Four Societies” – a study of American; Chinese (communist); South African (apartheid); and Indian (caste) societies. Often our class discussions became intense and uncomfortable. Thankfully, my teachers encouraged civility, inquiry, and would often challenge us with a simple question, “How do you know that?” These classes (plus home ec, driver’s ed and civics), had a positive impact upon my life. I am thankful for my public school education.

Now, as an amateur genealogist, I explore “social studies” through family histories. I have come across many facts from a family’s past that make people uncomfortable. An ancestor who was a convicted criminal; parents or grandparents who “had to” get married; or ancestors who abandoned their families – all evidence of human flaws and mistakes. Throughout history people have been making these types of individual choices regardless of the world events around them.

Often awareness of a “wayward” ancestor leads to a desire to exclude that ancestor from your family tree; deny you are related; or simply minimize your ancestor’s choices by saying, “Well, people were different back then.” Basically you want to run away from the past because you are fearful of what it might say about who you are now.

Recently my husband asked me to research his genealogy. A relative had told him that their ancestors owned slaves. To be sure, many Americans still do not like to confront slavery, - “Well, people were different back then.” or “It’s in the past. Who cares? Move on.” - Those are responses of people who want to run away from history. The fact is slavery was a societal institution, enshrined in the pre-Civil War Constitution, and, even after the 13^th. 14^th. And 15^th. Amendments were added to our Constitution, still has societal consequences today (example: Black Lives Matter). To his credit, my husband wanted to run toward history instead of away from it.

His ancestors did own slaves. They are considered “First Settlers of Virginia” and had head rights to vast tracts of land. Who was going to work that land? English settlers?

English immigration did not meet the demands of working the large tracts of land in the Virginia colony and indenture contracts were not popular with English immigrants. Slavery then became the dominant mode of operation for Virginia planters and, eventually, the backbone of the colonial economy.

First, they enslaved Native Americans.

 By 1649, the enslavement of Native Americans in Colonial English households and the stealing of Native American children for the slave market was a common means to obtain a cheap supply of labor. A 1670 statue specified that slaves taken into Virginia by ship (meaning Africans) would be slaves for life while people taken into slavery on the land (meaning Native Americans) would be slaves for a set number of years – adults for 12 years and children until 30 years of age.

I also researched his ancestors’ wills. They inherited other people as property. Unborn children were enslaved before birth, and upon their birth they were taken away from their mothers to become the property of another person. This is not “critical race theory,” this is history!

The last slaves owned by Peter, my husband’s ancestor, were recorded on the 1820 United States Census. Peter owned two slaves, a woman and a young girl, while living in Chesterfield, Virginia. By the 1830 Census, he was no longer a slave owner. Peter could have sold his slaves; allowed the woman to hire herself out to earn the money necessary to purchase their freedom through manumission; or he could have emancipated them. Unfortunately, I was unable to determine what happened to the woman and young girl he enslaved.

If learning about the history of slavery makes you feel uncomfortable, good. My first mile of a run feels like crap, but I keep going. Sure, I could avoid running altogether so I won’t ever “feel bad.” Or I could deny or minimize the fact that running sometimes feels uncomfortable. However, the benefits of running far exceed the occasional, uncomfortable feelings. Likewise learning about the past may feel uncomfortable at first, but the benefits of an educated citizenry far exceed the "comfort" of ignorance.

Running away from the past involves fear. There is no direction, you just want to get “away.” You are motivated by an emotional need to avoid, deny, or minimize. While you can run away from danger, you can’t escape the past. My husband’s ancestors, and maybe even yours, enslaved people. On the other hand, my ancestors, and maybe even yours, did NOT enslave people. Either way, regardless of whether or not your ancestors were involved in slavery, our whole country was and still is involved!

Running into the past involves courage. It is directional - into history. You are motivated by an intellectual need to gain knowledge and understanding. You want to discover information and explore the ramifications of our ancestor’s choices. You want to learn!

Take a step back into the past, learn about our history … all of it, “good” and “bad!” The mistakes and human failings of the past are still relevant today. They educate and motivate us to fully realize these words, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”