Monday marks the start of the Juneteenth holiday week, and cities and counties across the metro will be celebrating. Cobb County is honoring the memory of the more than 3,000 people who were enslaved there in a unique way. Local and state leaders will gather with neighbors of a historic Smyrna community to unveil what […]
Tag: enslaved
the educators keeping a language of enslaved Africans alive
In 2019, Akua Page was invited to a juvenile incarceration facility in Richland county, South Carolina, to give a presentation about the Gullah Geechee language, an English-based creole created by enslaved Africans. When the teens walked into the room, Page recalled, they seemed hardened, angry and annoyed. Undeterred, she began her lesson. “I told them: […]
DNA says you’re related to a Viking, a medieval German Jew or a 1700s enslaved African? What a genetic match really means
In 2022, we reported the DNA sequences of 33 medieval people buried in a Jewish cemetery in Germany. Not long after we made the data publicly available, people started comparing their own DNA with that of the 14th-century German Jews, finding many “matches.” These medieval individuals had DNA fragments shared with thousands of people who […]
Sculpture Park in Montgomery will ‘humanize’ the experiences of enslaved Africans
For civil rights attorney and renowned social justice activist Bryan Stevenson, it’s not enough to know the history of slavery and the centuries-old struggles of Black people in America. He wants people to see it. Feel it. Touch it. A new park in Montgomery, Alabama, was conceived to do just that, as visitors of the […]
Doctor renovates historic Montgomery home built by formerly enslaved designer Jim Hale
The gray house stands commandingly along Perry Street and the entrance to downtown, hiding its history in plain sight. Nichole Thompson, a Montgomery doctor, converted the Gaitway House, built in 1874 by Jim Hale, into luxurious office spaces and has big plans for a speakeasy on the bottom floor. “It’s going to be a game […]
Memphis woman learned chilling truth about how her ancestor illegally enslaved Black men
In 2018, a friend of Carla Peacher-Ryan recommended a book. The friend had seen a reference to a sheriff’s deputy named Paul Peacher who was accused of enslaving Black men in the 1930s in eastern Arkansas. Since Peacher is not a very common name, the friend wondered if they were related. At first, Peacher-Ryan winced. […]
19th century enslaved potter, ‘Dave the potter,’ celebrated at the Aiken County Historical Museum
Feb. 10—Several families arrived at the Aiken County Historical Museum on Saturday morning for an educational and hands-on learning experience: a brief lesson on David Drake, an enslaved Black potter from South Carolina, followed by a pottery-making session. David Drake, commonly known as Dave, was born around 1800 and created pots within the pottery factories […]
‘Father of Modern Gynecology’ J. Marion Sims performed dangerous ‘experiments’ on enslaved Black women without the use of anesthesia
J. Marion Sims has gone down in history as the “Father of Modern Gynecology.” Many of his medical achievements came at the cost of the health and well-being of enslaved Black women. He performed surgical experiments on enslaved Black women, often without the use of anesthesia. In 2018, after a series of protests, New York […]