A Night With the Ancestors

The historic built environment of the United States reveals a history of prosperity. You can find this in the architecturally significant buildings that have been preserved. Far less will and resources exist to preserve the buildings that portray sins, missteps and other shortcomings of this nation. In preserving the buildings that interpret the lives of the enslaved, we often label heroes and Founding Fathers as enslavers. President Thomas Jefferson is a great example, his estate is in the news lately for reclaiming and now interpreting the space of Sally Hemmings.

Twelve of our former presidents were slave owners, eight of whom owned slaves while they were in office. The Slave Dwelling Project has spent nights at the homes of Presidents Jackson, Jefferson, Monroe and Polk. The Project has interacted with James Madison’s Montpelier the most. If a Presidential site has the audacity to interpret enslaving people, I have the audacity to help influence that interpretation whenever I’m invited to do so.

My first interaction with Montpelier was in 2014 when I participated in a weeklong field school to build a log cabin. Using period tools to build a log cabin from scratch was quite a joyful experience. The building team consisted of people from across the United States. That event gave me a great appreciation for the building skills of the enslaved Ancestors. That log cabin is now on display in the South Yard at Montpelier.

I also participated in an archaeological dig in the South Yard. Man, did my knees hurt! My propensity to dig was quickly corrected by the experienced and altered to scraping. My experience of pulling a potential treasure from the earth, only to be told it was a rock. My joy of unearthing part of a horseshoe. And the days in the lab, analyzing what was found in the South Yard.

Other events at Montpelier included workshops and many sleepovers in the slave cabins. I am also included in an exhibit in one of the slave cabins. Look for it when you visit. Take a selfie or family shot with it and upload it social media.

On June 30 – July 1, the Slave Dwelling Project participated in A Night With the Ancestors. The intent of the program was to allow participants to view the new exhibit (the Mere Distinction of Color), eat a meal cooked over an open fire (by Jerome Bias); engage in a conversation about slavery, and spend a night in the slave cabins in the South Yard.

Detour

But first, I had to take a detour to the White House of the Confederacy in Richmond, VA. They said no to my request for a sleepover there, but I got the next best thing, an opportunity to address an assembled audience at the White House of the Confederacy.

 

Presenting in the White House of the Confederacy, I expected a hostile audience, but a hostile audience was not what I got. During the presentation, I even referenced the time I spent in Wisconsin where Jefferson Davis served as an Army officer at Fort Crawford in Prairie du Chien as the United States Army purged Native Americans. Records show that Jefferson Davis took an enslaved man with him and was compensated for his upkeep.

Back on Track

Many historic sites don’t interpret slavery because of the lack of the built environment that once housed the enslaved. Out of sight, out of mind. Montpelier did not use that as an excuse. In fact, it was an opportunity to invest in the archaeological, archival and genealogical research that would allow them to create a new and exhibit about the enslaved title “Mere Distinction of Colour;” and rebuild the buildings of the South Yard.

In order to participate in “A Night With the Ancestors,” the participants had to pay a fee. Generally, paying a fee to participate in sleepovers in the past did not go over well. Getting people to participate in sleepovers when there is no fee involved is sometimes a challenge. Many sign-up and many don’t show, for various reasons. There are some who interpret paying for the opportunity to participate in a sleepover as the stewards of the property still benefitting from slavery. I have many ways to counter that thought process, but that is a fight for another day.

This time would be different. All the thirty-five available slots were easily filled of which four of us were African American. People came from near and far to participate in the event, with the farthest being New York.

Our cook, Jerome Bias, had his work cut out for him. Cooking for thirty-five people over an open fire is not an easy chore, especially while nursing a shoulder injury. Luckily for Jerome, he had the assistance of Slave Dwelling Project board member Prinny Anderson, Montpelier staff member Sara Lee and me to assist him. Together we prepared a delicious meal of that was consumed by all with little to no leftovers.

Our fireside conversation turned into a night of questions and answers. Some of the participants had interacted with the Slave Dwelling Project before, but for most, it would be their first time.

The participants were not shy about expressing their feelings and we certainly did not all agree. We covered:
• Weddings at plantations
• Confederate monuments
• Sally Hemmings
• Slave-owning Presidents

We retreated to our cabins for sleeping. Historically, these cabins would have been elaborate. The uncontrollable aspect for the enslaved would be the number of people required to live in that space. Would the enslaver allow family units to occupy separate spaces, or did the biological connections to the enslaved people in the space even matter to the enslaver? And those enslavers in the breeding business treated those spaces as such.

We woke up the next morning to Jerome Bias cooking breakfast on the open fire. Jerome and Prinny Anderson opted out of sleeping in the cabin. They retreated to House #10 with all its modern conveniences for the night. Well deserved based on all that was required to prepare the dinner the previous day and Jerome’s injured shoulder. Sausage, eggs, grits and bacon, all cooked over an open fire.

Conclusion

President James Madison, Father of the Constitution; Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy, in one weekend, I experience two extremes in the history of this nation. Jefferson Davis and the Confederacy exploited that matter that James Madison and the members of the Constitutional Convention failed to end, slavery.

From: Ellen Wessel 

Hi Joe, It shall be forever a source of great pride that my little dog Bug was the first canine to overnight with The Slave Dwelling Project. 

J.C. Faulk, Founder, Circles of Voices

Though I walked Montpelier while everyone else slept, filming, recording sounds and getting my work complete, sleeping for a short time in a dwelling that was a prison for Africans was a new experience. I have seen many plantations but had not slept at one until this experience. Plantations are the most beautiful ugly places that I have encountered. I find plantations to be crime scenes, where America “legally” engaged in horrific acts against warm, loving human beings.

As I said when we were together, that we see weddings performed in such places is an abomination. It would be similar to being married at Auschwitz.

I ask that you not tell mostly white participants that it is fine to bless their marriages at American plantations. Nearly all of them (plantations or white people) have not fully recognized the horrors that occurred in these places. Certainly, you know that America has not done so, given the oppression that black people continue to suffer here.

Sakeena Nazeer

“On June 30th, 2018 I participated in The Slave Dwelling Project Sleepover at Montpelier. I am the descendant of enslaved Africans who were once owned by the Jefferson family at Monticello. It was an honor to walk in the footsteps of my ancestors at Montpellier.

My ancestors are the Gillette family who once lived at Monticello. I learned that the Gillette brothers drove Thomas Jefferson to Montpelier. The history of my ancestors presented me with a personal connection to Montpelier. Montpelier is truly a community of dedicated workers who daily bring its history to life.”

Blog for overnight at James Madison’s Montpelier
June 30-July 1, 2018
Lynda Davis

The overnight at Montpelier was my 12th overnight with the Slave Dwelling Project. One of the attendees asked me why I have stayed overnight this often. Her question was one of the reasons I continue to do the overnights: I meet new people who ask thought-provoking questions. The other reasons are that each overnight is different, each includes deep discussions on the topic of enslavement and its legacy, each teaches me new things, and each helps me fulfill the four approaches of Coming to the Table (CTTT), a national organization with local groups including the one to which I belong in Annapolis MD. The four approaches of CTTT are: facing and uncovering history, making connections with people within and across racial lines, working toward healing, and taking action.

During the campfire discussion for this overnight, one of the attendees said that European Americans and African Americans should be coming together to discuss our past and address our current problems. At this point, I mentioned Coming to the Table (CTTT) because this is what CTTT encourages and what its members attempt to do.

During this overnight, I viewed the exhibit entitled “The Mere Distinction of Colour.” This exhibit includes two videos. One video featured spoken word poet Regie Gibson who said “I think our problem as Americans is that we actually hate history, so we can’t really connect the dots. What we love is nostalgia. We love to remember things exactly the way they didn’t happen. History itself is often an indictment. And people? We hate to be indicted.”

Participating in the overnights with the Slave Dwelling Project provides an antidote to nostalgia and helps me connect the dots and remember things the way they did happen.

A quote from “The Mere Distinction of Colour” exhibit said: “The African American experience after slavery has been a story of persistence and resilience in the face of race-based prejudice and injustice. America’s Founders, both black and white, left us the responsibility to strive toward justice, equality, and a more perfect union.”

Participating in the overnights with the Slave Dwelling Project helps me remember this persistence and resilience and reminds me to continue striving toward justice and equity.

Jennifer Liskey

The event at Montpelier was wonderful. The staff was warm, welcoming and knowledgeable. We started the night with a private tour of the new exhibit on slavery “The Mere Distinction of Color”. It is very well done. Interactive with huge amounts of information presented in very engaging ways. There are two unflinching films that should not be missed. Following that we had a wonderful dinner, cooked entirely over an open fire. We had a long discussion, led by Joe, about slavery and the places that remain. It was great to get some history and insight into ‘The Slave Dwelling Project’. Very thought provoking in any circumstances but even more so sitting surrounded by the total irony of slave cabins at the home of the man who wrote the Constitution. Being able to walk around the house at night while it was lit up, under a full moon was powerful. The cabins were a bit stuffy until about midnight so everyone slept with the doors open which meant the sun and the birds were a natural alarm clock about 5 am. I will never forget sipping coffee on the front steps, staring over the empty, slightly foggy grounds as the sun came up, thinking about Madison’s words that helped build a nation and the stark contrast with the actions in his personal life. We ended the event with another meal cooked over the open fire and some last chats and thoughts. Everyone came ready and willing to share their own perspectives and learn about the perspectives of others. I highly recommend any event with Joe!!

Renee and Burt Cheezem
York, South Carolina
The Rest of the Story: “A Night With the Ancestors” at Montpelier

On June 30 my husband Burt and I were privileged to participate in The Slave Dwelling Project’s sleepover at Montpelier. It says a great deal about the wonderful man I married forty-four years ago to note that this experience was his carefully chosen anniversary gift to me! We are still processing all we learned and feelings continue to surface.

We arrived at Montpelier on a blistering hot Saturday afternoon and took the excellent “Journey from Slavery to Freedom” guided tour. We learned so much about the history of the enslaved community and their difficult road beyond slavery, through reconstruction and Jim Crow to today. Afterwards, we met the diverse and fascinating group of individuals with whom we’d be spending the night and of course, Joe McGill. I have seldom attended such a well-planned event, thanks in large part to the wonderful Montpelier staff. The award-winning “Mere Distinction of Color” exhibit was the perfect preamble to the night’s discussion. No matter where you live, it is well worth a trip to Montpelier for this exhibit alone. We shared a period campfire meal worthy of any 4-star restaurant. Then the campfire discussion began.

Burt and I have the humbling opportunity to help lovingly care for a slave graveyard, prayer trails and historical areas around our small York County, South Carolina, church, Allison Creek Presbyterian. It was such a delight to meet others with strong links to sites where enslaved men, women, and children’s stories are also being told. We gathered ideas and took comfort in hearing that like us, many have faced challenges and pushback in their efforts. We were all able to honestly share reverence for these sites, anger at the ways in which they have been neglected or marginalized, and hope for continuing to tell the stories of the individuals who lived and worked and were laid there to rest. Joe’s remarks and handling of hard questions were thought-provoking and respectful of all viewpoints. His charge to all of us to keep telling the stories and infuse the narrative with the historical truth of African American ancestors’ experiences was inspiring. We were able to connect the attitudes harkening back to slavery in America with current issues of Black Lives Matter, violence directed toward innocent people of color, chaos at the border, human trafficking and even the dismissal of Africa’s rich history with degrading references to s—hole countries. How much work there is still to do!

Later that evening, under a beautiful starlit sky, we slept with three other new friends in a reconstructed slave dwelling, on the very spot where enslaved families rested after sunup to sundown work-days. As I struggled to sleep, tears came while I thought of my daughter and daughter-in-law, both pregnant right now with babies already loved and longed for and who will be embraced by a loving forever family. What a contrast to the women enslaved in this place whose children borne in their bodies were the chattel of man with the power to separate them, sell them, or use them as they saw fit. The words of the old gospel song, “The Half Has Never Been Told,” resonate with the awful awareness that the stories of the enslaved humans on whose backs the economy of Madison’s plantation and the United States as a whole have seldom been told or appreciated.

The next morning, after a tantalizing campfire breakfast, it was hard to leave. The spot felt sacred, and we hoped that our presence had somehow honored those whose spaces from the past we had shared. Touring Madison’s beautiful home that morning was anticlimactic as we struggled with the reality that the constitutional rights so eloquently penned there and revered by many did not extend to the enslaved community literally at his doorsteps.

Burt and I would urge anyone who has the opportunity to participate in a Slave Dwelling Project event, to do so. We are already looking forward to being part of another gathering. Heartfelt thanks to Joseph McGill and all those who made our experience possible. We would be delighted to share more about our time at Montpelier with anyone who has questions.