Please reach us at loriannwallace@gmail.com or embracingyourpast@gmail.com if you cannot find an answer to your question.
Embracing Your Past is the website for the non-profit Embracing Your Past to Empower Your Future. The main goal is to use all book royalties from "Embracing Your Past to Empower Your Future: Four Families Descended from Slaves Reflect on Stories of Strength, Love, and Gratitude to create a book stipend for descendants attending college.
The nonprofit will offer book stipends for descendants of enslaved attending college.
Embracingyourpast is funded through donations from book sales, individuals, corporations, and grants from foundations. Please visit our website to learn more about how you can support our mission.
In Embracing Your Past to Empower Your Future, descendants of four Black families whose ancestors were enslaved help us understand what life was like for those ancestors, and how their experiences shaped and influenced future generations. Their ancestors’ experiences have had a profound impact on each of these families—and the wisdom, traditions, and values that have been passed down from generation to generation.
Telling the stories of their loved ones are the descendants of “Poleete” Pollee and Rose Allen, Clotilda survivors and co-founders of Africatown; the Madison family, descendants from President James Madison; the Quander family, one of oldest recorded Black American families dating back to the 1600’s; and the Brooks Family, the only Black American family in U.S. history with three generals (father and two sons) in the immediate family.
In Embracing Your Past to Empower Your Future, descendants of four prominent Black families whose ancestors were enslaved help us understand what life was like for those ancestors, and how their experiences shaped and influenced future generations. Their experiences had a profound impact on each of these families—and the wisdom, traditions, and values that have been passed down from generation to generation. If there is a light in the darkness of their experiences, it's the tenacity and determination of those ancestors who, despite being considered the property of another human being, understood their self-worth, and used it to carve out some part of joy. Their determination to excel and survive has been passed onto their descendants.
· The Allen family’s story is unique because their loved ones, Pollee Allen and his wife Rose were kidnapped from Africa and brought to the U.S. illegally in 1860 on The Clotilda, 53 years after Congress passed The Act Prohibiting the Importation of Slaves in 1807. The Allen story dives deeper into the rich culture of African communal living with the formation of Africatown, founded by Pollee, Rose and 30 other Clotilda survivors.
The descendants of Pollee still keep the customs and traditions alive. The past is always present in Africatown as residents who are related to the founders, never forget where they came from. From the food prepared to the church hymns sung on Sunday, Pollee’s memory is still fresh in his loved ones’ daily activities.
· The Madisons can trace back their family tree to President James Madison, Jr and his father. They have kept their loved one’s stories alive through the ancient practice of story-telling. Each generation has a designated family storyteller called a Griot or Griotte. These family storytellers have scoured the libraries in search of historical documents to help expand on the family’s history. One of the family’s enslaved ancestors, Jim, (whose father was James Madison Jr.) was allowed to learn how to read and write, leading to each subsequent generation appreciating and valuing the power of an education. Many became teachers, government officials, businessmen, and doctors.
· The Quanders is one of America’s oldest and consistently documented Black families. The Quander's have two family trees, the result of two brothers kidnapped in Ghana in the 1600’s who were sold to two different enslavers. The first family tree has its roots in Virginia (including Mount Vernon), while the second family tree is rooted in Maryland. The Quander family has a long history of civil rights activists, educators, military, and faith leaders. Their message for future generations is to find ways to make your mark and leave the world a better place.
· The Brooks Family is the only Black family in U.S. history with three generals in their immediate family. They are well known for military service, but their contributions to education and civil rights have also been extensive. The family mandate, beginning with their former enslaved family member, Richard Henry Brooks, continues to be stressed today: “You must be twice as good at whatever you do to get a fair chance.” Their love of service for their community was founded by the legacy of Naomi Quander the matriarch of the Brooks family. Naomi is a member of the Quander family. Her Virginia family tree was steeped in the values and beliefs of the seminarians.
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