On July 11th Nashville Public Television aired its documentary Wessyngton Plantation: A Family’s Road to Freedom. The film was inspired by my book The Washingtons of Wessyngton Plantation: Stories of My Family’s Journey to Freedom and the Tennessee State Museum exhibition Slaves and Slaveholders of Wessyngton Plantation. The documentary highlighted the life of my great-great-great-grandmother Jenny Blow Washington. Jenny along with her sister Sarah was brought from Sussex County, Virginia to Tennessee in 1802 by Joseph Washington who founded Wessyngton Plantation. Jenny married Godfrey a slave from a neighboring plantation and became the matriarch of one of the largest families on Wessyngton. Godfrey and Jenny later had nine children, including my great-great-grandfather Emanuel Washington (1824-1907). Today there are thousands of their descendants throughout the United States. Click link to view the documentary: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdce9dud1c0
Tags: Civil War, Ed Jones, Emancipation, Emanuel Washington, Freedmens Bureau, George A. Washington, Godfrey Washington, Granville Washington, Henny Washington, Jane Smith Washington, Jenny Blow Washington, John F. Baker Jr., Joseph Washington, Mary Cheatham Washington, Nashville Public Television, NPT, Overseer, plantation slavery, Robert DeHart, Sesquicentennial, Slave Labor, Slavery, Tennessee slavery, United Colored Troops, Wessyngton Plantation: A Family's Road to Freedom, WNPT