The Washington Family - Roots Run Deep Blog : Research & Discoveries

The Barbados-Carolina Connection

5/18/2016

The historical connections between Charleston and Barbados run deep. Many of the colonists who founded the Carolina colony came to South Carolina from Barbados. Barbadians’ political, economic and cultural influence were great in the earliest years of the colony. In the first two decades after settlement, the majority of Carolina’s inhabitants – free and enslaved – came from Barbados.

Full article here: http://www.lowcountryafricana.com/barbados-genealogy/

Gullah Culture

2/4/2016

Counting South Carolina's slave dwellings

7/27/2015

"The Lowcountry has several prominent properties with surviving slave cabins, such as those on McLeod Plantation on James Island, at Magnolia Plantation on the Ashley River and at Boone Hall Plantation in Mount Pleasant."
http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20140621/PC1610/140629905

by Robert Behre - P&C

April 28th, 2015

4/28/2015

After a year-long restoration, the McLeod Plantation Historic Site on James Island is now open to everyone. The Charleston County Park and Recreation Commission has restored the 37-acre plantation. You can tour the McLeod family home, the smaller slave quarters, a cemetery, a cotton gin house, and a dock on Wappo Creek. McLeod Plantation will be open every Tuesday through Sunday, 9 am-4 pm. Admission is $10 for adults, $6 for children ages 3-12, and free for kids 2 and under. Click here for more information on the plantation and this weekend's events.

Courtesy of WCSC.

Washington: The 'Blackest Name' In America

7/15/2014

George Washington's name is inseparable from America, and not only from the nation's history. It identifies countless streets, buildings, mountains, bridges, monuments, cities – and people.

In a puzzling twist, most of these people are black. The 2000 U.S. Census counted 163,036 people with the surname Washington. Ninety percent of them were African-American, a far higher black percentage than for any other common name.

The story of how Washington became the "blackest name" begins with slavery and takes a sharp turn after the Civil War, when all blacks were allowed the dignity of a surname.

Even before Emancipation, many enslaved black people chose their own surnames to establish their identities. Afterward, some historians theorize, large numbers of blacks chose the name Washington in the process of asserting their freedom.

Today there are black Washingtons, like this writer, who are often identified as African-American by people they have never met. There are white Washingtons who are sometimes misidentified and have felt discrimination. There are Washingtons of both races who view the name as a special – if complicated – gift.

And there remains the presence of George, born 279 years ago on Feb. 22, whose complex relationship with slavery echoes in the blackness of his name today.

Read full article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/21/washington-blackest-name-america_n_825884.html

Distress On Edisto Island

7/3/2014

Found on Newspapers.com

Finding Your Roots

6/30/2014

The new season of "Finding Your Roots," premiering September 23, 2014.

African American Museum in Charleston

4/30/2014

Looks like plans are moving ahead the a the future International African American Museum in Charleston. “The $75 million museum project was first envisioned by Charleston Mayor Joe Riley some 20 years ago”

http://www.abcnews4.com/story/24816617/international-african-american-museum-takes-shape

Photos of slave descendants donated to Smithsonian

3/27/2014

The great thing about living near the DC are the FREE museums and I am really looking forward to the new Smithsonian's African-American history museum. "61 photographs by Moutoussamy-Ashe, the wife of the late tennis player Arthur Ashe. She documented Daufuskie Island between 1977 and 1981 and the Gullah/Geechee people who lived there". Article by BRETT ZONGKER, Associated Press.

12 years a slave...Searching for PAtsey

3/4/2014

Here is great article by Kate Calautti in Vaninty Fair, "With 12 Years a Slave putting Solomon Northup’s story in the spotlight, Katie Calautti attempts to discover the fate of Patsey—and learns just how impossible it can be to find one woman when that woman was a slave" ..."Deducing from the general ages of the other slaves on Epps’s farm within Northup’s text, Patsey appears as the entry for a black female, aged 19, in Epps’s 1850 Slave Schedule. Using all these factors as a guide, it’s safe to estimate that she was born around 1830 in South Carolina."