After reading the instructions for Day Nine again, I decided to peruse my reader and see what caught my attention. I happen upon a post with a picture of a covered wagon. I read the title, Rewriting History and jumped right in. I learned about the story of a fellow blogger seeking an unknown family history. Through her search she uncovered her family’s connection to slavery. This knowledge begged the question, “what can I do to make it right?” The question moved me to comment.
I have been fascinated by genealogy for a long time. I can remember having many projects dealing with recreating a family tree all throughout my elementary and high school years. Surprisingly, for a course in Chicano studies, I had to do a project involving me telling mi corrido or my family’s story. It’s amazing how much information can you find now with the help of the internet. I can recall when I was in elementary school having to ask questions of older relatives who were not as forthcoming with the answers I needed to complete my project. Fast forward to my college course, I needed to get the details about how where certain family members originated, how and why they migrated. When I was given the assignment, I was actually afraid of what I would discover. My father was tight-lipped. My mother and my paternal grandmother ended up being a wealth of information. I guess I happened to ask the right questions because I ended up having way more information that I needed and more than I bargained for. After sitting and listening to the stories I was told, I felt really grateful for the struggles that my ancestors went through because if it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t exist.
Everyone is able to find anything about their family beyond their immediately family. It is indeed a treasure to be able to go back several generations and even more fascinating to be able to connect to a moment in history. Those amongst us who are descendants of slaves cannot trace their history back to their country of origin. Most of their rich history is lost. There are no accurate records or documents that can even point to clues. It’s like finding a needle in a haystack. To be able to have a connection to something is very important. To find that connection is a rare gem. No matter the distasteful and uncomfortable things you might discover, it is still an amazing thing to be able to go back in time and get a glimpse of what people who looked like us, who belonged to us went through and how they lived.
So I challenge you to ask questions and make discoveries. You never know what you might uncover.
Words LIFE Breathe write 