Righting the Wrong Side of History

Stratford Hall

438 Great House Road, Stratford, Virginia

Sometimes opposites attract. Years ago, I had the pleasure of spending a night at the Lee-Fendall House Museum in Alexandria, Virginia. The Lee-Fendall House was the home of Major-General Henry “Light-Horse Harry” Lee III, the father of Robert E. Lee. At that point in this journey of traveling the nation and sleeping in slave dwellings, I never thought that Robert E. Lee would be much of a factor. Turns out, I was blatantly wrong!

I am often intrigued by and attracted to people who go against the grain to get things done. Dr. Kelly Deetz is on my shortlist of these people. I was first contacted by her when she was a professor at Roanoke College in Salem, Virginia. We put a date on the calendar for the Slave Dwelling Project to visit Roanoke College, but it did not work out because she left Roanoke for a job at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. That Roanoke visit did happen and Dr. Deetz participated in a big way. She gave a presentation on her book Bound to the Fire: How Virginia’s Enslaved Cooks Helped Invent American Cuisine. Her style of presentation lures you, make you feel comfortable and then she hits you with uncomfortable facts of enslaved people.

I was surprised when Dr. Deetz turned up on the staff of Stratford Hall, the birthplace of Robert E. Lee. Prior to that, she was doing some work with the movie Birth of a Nation. Those two things are diametrically opposed to each other. In my mind, it was like fitting a square peg into a round hole, someone or entity had to conform to the other. I had my money on Dr.Deetz.

Spending a night at Stratford Hall was an offer I could not refuse. There are highlights within journeys, this had the potential to be one of them. The birthplace of Robert E. Lee is sacred grounds to some and many of those worshippers of Robert E. Lee are not buying what the Slave Dwelling Project is selling.

Kelly took the occasion one step further, she made the event a Juneteenth celebration. Juneteenth is a festival held annually on the nineteenth of June by African Americans (especially in the southern states), to commemorate emancipation from slavery in Texas on that day in 1865. The Slave Dwelling Project was not the only component of this celebration. From our living history team was storyteller, Dontavius Williams, we both hooked up at Dulles Airport, rented a car and drove the 2 hours plus to Stratford Hall, stopping in Fredericksburg, Virginia to give our opinion about removing a slave auction block from its current location to a museum. Cook, Jerome Bias, met us at Stratford Hall.

I had no idea that Stratford Hall is all that it is and that expansive. Modern cabins, inns, conference space, I’m getting ideas for the future, a conference maybe. Stay tuned on that front.

Bricks, bricks and more bricks, that describes Stratford Hall well. The embodied energy of the enslaved Ancestors who made those bricks is in each one of them. It was their stolen labor that enabled that big house to be built. Now the Slave Dwelling Project is there to pay homage to enslaved people. Knowing that historically, like Mount Vernon and other preserved historic homes, a group of older White women used their wealth and influence to ensure the big house is still on the landscape, how would those women feel about the intent of Dr. Deetz and the Slave Dwelling Project? What does the current rendition of that group feel of our intent? I could only be satisfied that they gave us a pass for the weekend to honor the enslaved Ancestors at the birthplace of Robert E. Lee. There was a lot of history to be made on this weekend.

Kelly gave me and Dontavius a quick tour of the big house. I recalled those times when I would visit these properties and the first thing my hosts wanted to show me was the big house. At first, I resisted, wasn’t interested in the lavish lives of enslavers. Now, I welcome the opportunity as I admire the craftsmanship of the enslaved people, spatial segregation and the opportunity to look for fingerprints in bricks.

This big house was a great lesson in spatial segregation as it was described how the enslaved people functioned in the space. Their steps, the second set of steps, requires concentration to navigate. One can image negotiating those steps with a tray of food or a chamber pot and having a mishap. The punishment that would be inflicted as a result of that mishap was unthinkable.

Seeing the bedroom where Robert E. Lee was born made me feel odd. And there it was, a whip on display. That one item made the tour more relevant for me. Kelly encouraged us to come back on the next day and take the audio tour. We both did and it was great. It has the content that would not conform to someone’s desire to ignore the stolen labor necessary to make that built environment and the lavish lives of the enslavers possible. Yes, Kelly’s signature was all over the audio tour.

And yes, Dontavius and I went searching for those fingerprints in the bricks, and yes, we found some on some of the outbuildings and the fence line.

Juneteenth

So, Juneteenth at Stratford Hall Plantation went a little something like this:

Saturday, June 15th (ALL PUBLIC AND FREE ADMISSION)

9:00-10:30am: Opening talk, Joe McGill, African American History Museum, Montross, VA.
11:00 African drumming in front of mansion/welcome at Stratford Hall
What is Juneteenth?-quick introduction
(food available on-site–grab and go)
12-2: Lecture and tour: The Enslaved Community at Stratford Hall, Dr. Kelley Fanto Deetz
2:00-3:00: Afrocentric arts and crafts
4:30-6 Music/open mic/storytelling (Rita Wagstaff-Stratford hall)/Afrocentric arts and crafts
6-630: Libations, drumming, prayers at the enslaved African American cemetery
6:30 Dinner (African American foodways/SDP Chef)
8:00-10 Storytelling/campfire: Dontavius
10-? Sleepover

Yes, the sleepover happened. I was joined by Hannah Paulk, Heather Cline, and Lydia Rogers. Assured in the knowledge that the enslaved slept close to where they worked, we all slept in the laundry room, despite upon first examining the room, a bat flew into my chest when I opened the door, but I had to man up if the sleepover was going to happen in that space.

Kelley provided for me a nice comfortable cot. Lydia slept on a table. Our best conversation happened that morning when everyone was awake.

Conclusion

Dr. Kelley Fanto Deetz pulled off something that for some is unthinkable, a Juneteenth celebration at the birthplace of Robert E. Lee. She is a pioneer, fearless. She is already discussing a similar program in 2020, but bigger and better. Stay tuned.

Heather Cline

When I heard that Joseph McGill was bringing the Slave Dwelling Project to Stratford Hall for their Juneteenth Celebration, I jumped at the opportunity to participate. I have been following his journey for several years and the stars finally aligned that allowed me to be in the same place and the same time as his program. I have had a strong interest in African American history and culture since I was young. It might seem like an unusual interest for a white girl born and raised in the rural Shenandoah Valley of Virginia but it’s one that only further developed as I got older. I have often been drawn to the histories and stories of people who have endured, persisted, and overcome despite being marginalized and oppressed by those around them. The enslaved population at Stratford Hall were not defeated people, they were resilient and admirable. I consider it an honor and a privilege that I was able to spend the night in a space once occupied by such venerable individuals. Stratford Hall doesn’t exist because of the Lee family, Stratford Hall exists because of the labor and great minds of those who built and maintained it, the African and African American people that were forced to live and raise their families there. I am so grateful to Joseph McGill for bringing this fact to the attention of those visiting Stratford Hall and all of the other dwellings he has overnighted in. Most of the time visitors are traveling to these places to learn about the “great people” who lived there when they should really be hearing about the formidable ancestors whose hands created these places. It is because of their fortitude that these places stand today.

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Below is a runaway slave advertisement I came across while looking through Charleston, SC newspapers conducting research for a past job. I often think about Limus and just hope he made his way out. Just wanted to pass it on…feel free to share.

SOUTH CAROLINA GAZETTE
NOVEMBER 28, 1775

Absented himself from the Subscriber, the 4th of this Instant, a NEGRO Man, named LIMUS; he is of a yellow Complexion, and has the Ends of his Fingers cut off his left Hand; he is well known in Charles Town from his saucy and impudent Tongue, of which I have had many Complaints; therefore, I hereby give free Liberty, and will be also much obliged to say Person to flog him (so as not take his Life) in such Manner as that shall think proper, whenever he is found out of my Habitation without a Ticket; for though he is my Property, he has the audacity to tell me, he will be free, that he will serve no Man, and that he will be conquered or governed by no Man.—-I forwarn Masters of Vessels from carrying him off the Province, and all Persons from harbouring him in their House or Plantations.   ……..JOSHUA EDEN.

Lydia Scoon Rogers

I’m attempting to think of the word or words that describe what I felt being given the opportunity to stay on plantation grounds overnight where former slaves experienced a life of depravity. At one point when I thought we were going to stay in the actual slave quarters on site, I felt fear and apprehension. Those conditions were unthinkable. Even as an African American woman whose heritage is represented by such slave conditions, I did not want to experience that much. That is not a statement of any sense of superiority on my part, but a somber confession. It is not a place for humankind.

I felt relief when I found out we would sleep in the laundry room behind the historic out kitchen. I also had a sobering awareness that most of my ancestors had no such choice of lodging! I felt even more amazement and indebtedness to them. I attempted to think of what challenging times might have gone on hundreds of years before in the laundry setting. In the end I identified and chose to sleep very carefully and lightly on the top of a fold-up table in this room. Joe, who has likely slept on much worse in the past, this time was blessed with a cot prepared in advance for him. The two other overnight guests slept on the concrete floor in sleeping bags they brought. We all chatted in the late hours for a while to encourage one another, hoping that the night would pass uneventfully, free from mice or other creatures. These two other visitors had travelled several hours to stay overnight and experience things. With an interesting irony, these were two white women on the floor. To me it was a heartfelt demonstration of their desire to know more about the psychological and physical torment experienced by African slaves in America. Their presence that day, as well as many others from different backgrounds, showed me that Stratford Hall Plantation’s Juneteenth day — a celebration of Africans’ life and emancipation from slavery — is important for BOTH African Americans and for ALL!

This was a humbling event, a great privilege to stay at Stratford Hall Plantation, home of the Lee family in particular. –A place that sits in enduring, complex history. I asked myself what do I need to do to show my gratitude for being a part of history going forward at this place? And the essential thought that came to me was, ” Do it! Do your part to help bring full healing history forth.” The slave story , together with history from the “Big house” help tell the full story, help shed light on the present. True, complete history –whatever it proves to be — helps set us ALL free.

Thank you for this opportunity!*
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*God Bless Joe McGill and his company for forging a way to help connect African Americans and others to a fuller view of American history through the Slave Dwelling Project. Also sincere thanks goes to the many at Stratford Hall Plantation, including Dr. Kelley Deetz and Jon Bachman, and all the many actors, contributors and participants. It was an historically edifying Juneteenth Day!