What better way to honor our mothers and our maternal ancestors than to tell our children about the sacrifices made so that the lives of future generations could be lives well lived. When I think of what our great-great-grandmothers endured in the times of slavery and early emancipation I know that their sacrifices should not be forgotten. Please take a moment on Mothers Day to honor our ancestors.
Your Tennessee Social Studies Textbook
My story began when I was in the seventh grade. While flipping through my social studies textbook I spotted a photograph of four former slaves, entitled “Black Tennesseans.” For some reason I kept being drawn to the photo and would look at it each time I went to class. Soon afterwards my grandmother told me that the two people seated in the photograph were her paternal grandparents, Emanuel and Henny Washington, who were enslaved on Wessyngton Plantation. That discovery led me on a thirty year journey of researching my family and all the others connected to the plantation.