Daughter Dialogues

Announcing the end of season two, Daughter Dialogues will return on Thursdays in September (postponed until February 2022).  This episode includes observations in review of season two, listener comments, podcast statistics, announcements of live virtual events to interact with the Daughters, and a season three preview.  Hear the status of breaking the series into seasons and pace of the research project; common shared experiences among the Dialogues, new! from season two: bold women, connecting with African ancestors, American Indian heritage, universities built on labor of ancestors, influence of Roots by Alex Haley on Daughters, setting records straight, mismanagement of records, Daughters not believing they would have a Revolutionary War ancestor, Civil Rights and segregation struggles, letters to military men who then became a husband, Daughters breaking color and gender barriers, Daughters as survivors, Confederacy insensitivities, being nervous about joining the DAR in the South, Daughters being voted upon with black balls and white balls, election and health and racism pandemics in 2020 causing some Daughters to not record oral history, chance encounters; additional experiences in common with season one: white men with black women who were often enslaved in 1700s and 1800s providing a different narrative of how white men took care of their black families and passed down their property to them, white women with black men in the 1800's, colorism and complex struggles with racial identity because of color of skin, rejection or denial by white descendants of ancestors, black Daughters connecting with white descendants of their ancestor’s former enslavers, dual family, or shared common ancestor, members of the U.S. Colored Troops, people of color owning slaves, free people of color; season 2 publicity on Chicago and Quincy, IL radio, NM radio, Cheddar TV, ABC & NBC News Washington D.C., Washingtonian Magazine, geeking out on numbers; Daughter Dialogues downloaded nearly 17,000 times, placing it in top 40% of podcasts among 30+ million episodes available; listeners on every continent except Antarctica; top cities and countries in which listeners are located; announcing season 2 Dialogue with the Daughters Live! in August 2021 during which listeners will be able to meet the Daughters and ask questions live; season three preview: meet a black Jewish member of the Daughters of the American Revolution and a descendant of a American Indian female patriot.  August 5, 2021 update: Season 2 Dialogue with the Daughters Live! is postponed until January 2022 and the subsequent return of Daughter Dialogues for a Season 3 is postponed until February 2022 due to the passing of Robert Raney, on August 3, 2021, father of the host Reisha Raney.

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Yolanda discusses her Croatan Native American Revolutionary War patriot Ephraim Manuel, son of 7th great grandfather Nicholas Manuel who was enslaved with his wife Bungey, both being of African descent in Elizabeth City County, Virginia; Nicholas migrating to Croatan territory in Samson County, North Carolina after he was freed from slavery in 1718; the Daughters of the American Revolution listing her patriot as Native American since his great grandson Enoch Manuel was Croatan and listed Ephraim as Croatan in his records; Enoch having several wives; 2nd great grandfather Herbert, Enoch's son, marrying an African American because he didn't want to intermarry; being proud of her patriot ancestor regardless of whether he was African American or Native American because the American colonies were losing the war, including people of color turned it around.  Recording her oral history a mere two hours after the historic conviction of a white police officer for murdering a black man, Mr. George Floyd, Jr.  Yolanda shares “my ancestors fought for freedom, equality, social justice, and democracy for everyone and every generation has to fight to preserve it”; being born in Ocala, FL, a 5th generation native Floridian; her childhood being centered around church and school; attending predominantly white schools; earning a bachelor's degree in psychology from Emory University in Atlanta, GA; completing an internship at Baylor College of Medicine in Texas; earning a PhD in clinical psychology at University of Georgia; working at Savannah State University to get the black college experience she missed out on as a student; running a private practice as a clinical psychologist; returning to Tallahassee to work at her “family’s school” of Florida A&M; discovering an online family tree leading to her patriot; being floored she could trace her ancestry to 1680, not believing she could  join DAR; being unaware of free people of color and Croatan ancestors; impressed at how well documents were preserved, joining DAR to continue their preservation; Millie Manuel, widow of patriot, never getting paid for Ephraim's service; seeing how records of people of color were given less care than those of whites, grandmother's marriage certificate not listing parents' names, but instead just showing "willing"; her father being supportive of her joining DAR and her husband calling her "black royalty"; supporting the military since two of her sons are Navy officers; her 94 year old grandmother's birth certificate only listing her as "baby" Manuel; having attended universities in which individuals paved the way, same with DAR, people of color fought and sued to become members; representing patriots of color as a DAR member, telling the full story of the victory of the war; serving as a chapter officer, Librarian; being a DAR member in the South, not being ready to record oral history in 2020 with individual members' social media pages feeding into inequality and oppression of the racism pandemic, also disturbing they were ignoring the health pandemic that disproportionately impacted people of color; “I represent diversity in DAR, not just by my skin color but also by my patriot”; “not everyone who fought in the Revolution was European, this country is not just for Europeans”; enjoying time with members of color in DAR; being scared to attend first meeting, but it being very pleasant; anyone can join if they can prove lineage, and education or socio-economic status not mattering so DAR is an extremely diverse organization; being proud that women had the forethought to purchase DAR headquarters land while not forgetting her grandmother couldn't join; committing to continued membership and service in DAR.

Read Yolanda's biography at www.daughterdialogues.com/daughters

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Carol talks about descending from Quock Martrick, born in 1756 Ghana, Africa, who served with George Washington in the American Revolution and was with Benedict Arnold when he left his post; spending three years searching for Quock’s slave master, assuming he had one as always taught in school about blacks in America, but never finding one; going before a council of Ga-Adangbe tribal elders for permission to meet her ancestral relatives in Big Ada then, the family giving her the name of Akutu Martey, meaning part warrior because she beat the odds by returning to them and the proper surname which was butchered to “Martrick” by the English; Quock serving in the Massachusetts militia as a free man alongside enslaved soldiers and slaves serving masters who were fighting, but choosing not to join the British; Quock marrying the daughter of a free black patriot; and three white men trying to get Quock declared insane to take his property, representing himself in court and the judge ruling in his favor. Carol shares oral history about growing up in Massachusetts with her siblings who are 10 to 16 years older and her parents fostering 74 siblings so she would not grow up like an only child, having to cut up and fry six whole chickens for dinner; family visiting Martha's Vineyard and having clambakes in the sand at the beach; being shaped by 6th grade "Africa the Dark Continent" school lesson; attending dance school; starting college at U-Mass, Amherst; wanting a dance career but father deciding she needed to study nursing, later switching to acting and directing at Emerson College; her foster brother in Vietnam showing his sisters' photos to soldiers who wrote letters to them, one becoming her husband; earning a bachelor's in Journalism and master's in International Politics- Sub Saharan Africa; working in public relations, communications and journalism; landing a job with a cable tv station in Antigua while vacationing there; her husband supporting her move to work in Antigua for almost 2 years while he and their two sons stayed in Ohio; working for FEMA being deployed to disaster areas; working in Louisiana on a housing restoration project after hurricane Katrina; working on her PhD in Journalism at 70; paternal grandmother's grandfather being a Civil War veteran, having a farm on a street named after him; sister helping with family research, stuck at 3rd paternal great-grandmother Chloe Jacobs; finding a document by a  Boston Historic Genealogy Society researcher with 1790 census listing Quock Martrick, learning Chloe was born in Londonderry Canada; never knowing that blacks were in American Revolution; later learning when working on PhD that some Africans came to America free as mariners or for adventure; joining a Ohio Univ. study abroad program to Ghana; familiar faces and mannerisms of people where her ancestor left 250 years ago; Quock knowing his exact birth date, indicating he is royalty; Ga-Adangbe naming boys born on a Wednesday Quock, her confirming the day; grandmother being upset every time she told the story about DAR not allowing Marian Anderson to sing; joining DAR feeling she owed it to Quock, his wife, and her grandmother since "they kept Marian out but I was going to go in", and as an opportunity to learn; discovering a dozen other patriots; DAR members being genuinely nice; serving as a chapter officer, Librarian, being an example to granddaughters; having been made to feel she doesn’t belong in this country, also in career, and education by some who claimed this country having no relation to the war; having First Americans in her family; people not being able to say go back to Africa; as a member of the DAR, bringing recognition to people who have been ignored.

Read Carol's biography at www.daughterdialogues.com/daughters

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Dawn discusses surviving multiple traumatic brain conditions; being called both a honkey and the “N-word” as a Creole mixed race child growing up in California; being a Georgetown University 272 slave descendant; and descending from Marie Therese Coin Coin, a slave owner of African descent who was herself formerly enslaved, seeming like cannibalism, the love match of her Frenchman Revolutionary War patriot Claude Thomas Pierre Metoyer from Natchitoches, Louisiana.  She shares accounts of suffering from non-cataplectic narcolepsy, a non-obvious brain condition causing excessive daytime sleepiness, undiagnosed for 17 years, hypnagogic hallucinations (vivid and terrifying sensations while falling asleep) and sleep paralysis (a frightening inability to move or speak while falling asleep or upon waking) which started at age 13; mother worrying it was demonic possession as a child; her condition feeling like a deep dark secret which shook her Catholic faith, feeling she had experienced the devil thus, knowing there was a God, but after being diagnosed knowing it wasn't the devil then questioning whether there is a God; attending school for medical assisting; managing her condition as an adult, fulfilling self-actualization by using her brain to work for the state, instead of only holding physical jobs at a deli and grocery store to avoid falling asleep, when she got hit by a car, thrown eighteen feet, landing head first, resulting in mild traumatic brain injury, causing memory loss; losing her job, ending up on welfare six months later; taking six years to get back to work; achieving happiness; growing up in Los Angeles and then northern CA having Creole parents with Louisiana roots; her mother wanting her to pass for white and be anything but black; not having ethnic pride because of being "nothing"; not having a problem being black but "woman of color” a great descriptor; mother's family Dawes file, denied Choctaw membership, having 13% Native American DNA; her father discovering a book written about Metoyer family while visiting Louisiana; hard to swallow learning was a descendant of an African American who owned slaves; Coin Coin using slave labor to purchase her children; Metoyer marrying white to have an acceptable family to which he could leave property; defining Creole as being a mixture of African American, Spanish, French and Indian, the food, the traditions; her dark skinned father; great-great grandmother from Lafourche, Louisiana marrying the grandson of the Georgetown 272 Harriet enslaved by Jesuits selling slaves to build college; questioning why join DAR since she felt "it is all those white women who wouldn't let Marian Anderson sing"; joining after listening to a podcast episode about DAR by black host Bernice Bennett; DAR members being welcoming, having more in common than differences with members; mother never having a birth certificate, never able to travel out of country or vote; discovering her mother's birth certificate, grossly misspelled and identifying her father, previously unconfirmed; joining the Sacramento DAR chapter before the Cane River DAR chapter of Metoyer descendants was formed; never having met other DAR Metoyer descendants, estimated 10,000 descendants of Metoyer and Coin Coin; "I don't feel like 'nothing'" belonging to a society in which multiple descendants are members; serving as a chapter officer; father always asking "have you gone to any of those racist DAR meetings lately?", DAR sisters showing up for father's funeral without telling them, feeling very cared for that they came, having a big impact on her life; reconciling DAR's past history of racism by “judging others by their character and not color of their skin and that goes for DAR”.

Read Dawn's biography at www.daughterdialogues.com/daughters

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True talks about her family legacy of four generations of firstborns, with her being the first woman, serving in the U.S. Armed Forces; joining the U.S. Army despite her “mom” (grandmother) and birth father feeling that women should not be in the military but with the support of her "dad" (grandfather), the ultimate decision maker; becoming a food service specialist like her birth father; serving for seven years in Korea and Egypt until her military career was cut short because of a rare autoimmune disorder; being in the National Organization of Rare Disorders and near death in Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for three months; wanting to learn more about her ancestry due to her illness; attempting to join the Daughters of the American Revolution in Kentucky but chapter members using a brown box with white and black balls for a secret vote to accept or deny her, being “accepted” but members non-responsive thereafter; not feeling connected to her white Revolutionary War patriot "Yohan" Nicholas Barrick but instead, the documentation of her black ancestors speaking to her; eventually feeling connected through her patriot's service, reinforcing her service as a soldier in the Army, and their both being willing to make the ultimate sacrifice; and feeling overwhelmed that her white patriot is receiving recognition through her research as a woman of color.  She shares oral history about growing up in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, born the day before Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated, to a young white mother of German descent from four generations who lived in PA back to her Revolutionary War patriot, and to a black father from Florida, an Army Vietnam veteran who retired from the U.S. Marine Corps, when interracial relationships were not accepted; being legally adopted by her black paternal grandparents from Alabama, unsure if her maternal grandfather was aware she had a black father; her adoptive grandparents’ four children feeling like siblings instead of aunts and uncles, her father feeling like a big brother; having a child as a teenager with a mixed race high school sweetheart; attending community college to study pre-med; divorcing in her early twenties with two children and losing her job with the Pennsylvania State Lottery; her grandfather serving in WWII Normandy, her son serving in Iraq and Afghanistan; settling in Fort Knox, KY; co-hosting an online genealogy show; watching Roots with her grandparents who talked about their enslaved grandparents including enslaved paternal great-great-grandfather Ike who had three wives and 23 children; her mother not knowing her family history, taking a full mitochondrial DNA test which led to her Revolutionary War Patriot who served as a private in the militia in PA; discovering her patriot's service from his pension record; always being told that she came from nothing because she was black but then discovering her patriot ancestry, feeling disbelief that she qualified for DAR; being on a genealogy show which turned into a program with two white DAR members helping prepare her application; feeling confirmation, disbelief, anger, and pride when learning of her patriot; exercising her birthright to join DAR, standing in proxy for future grandchildren; joining a PA chapter with her mom since she was not embraced by two KY chapters; during the DAR national convention in Washington D.C., randomly ending up in a taxi full of KY Daughters who convinced her to join their chapter then feeling right at home; serving on the Volunteer Information Specialist committee; "I am the definition of America"; DAR means having a sisterhood; "DAR is doing what they say they are going to do to not discriminate against race, creed or color".

Read True's biography at www.daughterdialogues.com/daughters

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Marcia talks about how the Clotilda, the last ship that transported slaves after their trade from Africa was abolished, carried the captives who bought land to create Africatown in Alabama, where her father lived; disheartened learning her ancestors did not come from the Clotilda; her pipe smoking maternal great grandmother, Deland, chopping off a white man's foot after being called a name while enslaved; the death certificate of her white maternal grandfather Moses Wilson's enslaved mulatto mother, Lillian James, listing Lillian’s father as "Yank", his black family’s nickname, instead of his real name Frances or Frank, causing three years of being denied for application to the Daughters of the American Revolution; Yank having children with another mulatto woman who lived with him, willed to him by his father with instructions to allow them to live as free and white as possible, but children not liking the way whites were treating people so marrying black, Yank listed as Frank on their death certificates, meeting their descendants; Moses having two children with her black grandmother, but also a white family with six children; Lillian, descendant of Revolutionary War patriot John James, having ten children with European James (Jimmy) Wilson who had a white wife and children who likely wrote him off as dead; connecting with  present-day white families of Moses and Jimmy but Yank’s white family disconnecting once they discovered she was black. She shares oral history about growing up in Mobile, Alabama; several years during her childhood, her mother being away at college in Montgomery, unable to attend locally due to segregation; the National Guard at her high school during desegregation, clearing campus early each day after breaking up fights, her brother standing in the corner of the cafeteria eating gumbo amidst fighting; working for Eastern Airlines in Atlanta, Georgia for 17 years, now an operations manager; interested in genealogy in 1976 when pregnant with first child, born on the last day of "Roots"; Deland enslaved by Robert Moffett, sold to Mississippi, daughter Delphine marrying John Beard, descendant of 2nd great grandfather William Beard who was formerly enslaved having 200+ acres of land, a logging company, 22 kids, four wives including a Moffett, starting a church in a community called Moffettville; visiting present-day town; mother's birth certificate not listing Moses as the father, never married grandmother; white descendants of Jimmy's father, Albert Jackson, who owned over 500 acres and slaves, thinking Jimmy died in 1891 as written in their family Bible and "Your Inheritance" book by a cousin which documented family to Charlemagne and Revolutionary War patriot Joshua Wilson, under which she joined DAR, who became a Methodist minister and built a school; their family taking her to cemeteries and churches; finding a 1900 death record for Jimmy, so alive when grandfather born in 1896; white cousins affirming  great aunt had stories she wouldn't share; paternal great grandfather Emp Green, U.S. Colored Troop in AL; patriots Mark Harwell and Joel Rivers of Virginia; becoming close to white state officer from AL in GA DAR also descending from patriot Joshua Wilson; reaching out to chapters in Decatur, GA; "I cannot change the past.  Without it, I wouldn't be here, I am embracing the good and focused on bettering the future"; connection with black Daughters important since doing similar research; joining DAR to prevent research from being lost; being uncomfortable with some chapter programs about the Confederacy; “some individual women have more learning to do about people of color but the organization stands for all people”; "I am an American".

 Read Marcia's biography at www.daughterdialogues.com/daughters

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Karen talks about great aunt Bernice Gaines Hughes, the first black female Lt. Colonel in the U.S. Armed Forces, serving in the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion in England and France WWII, aviation cadet; maternal 2nd great grandmother arriving in Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1862 as a fugitive slave, a nurse in the Battle of Glorieta Pass, casting her first vote in 1929, fluent in Spanish and honored on a plaque; visiting relatives passing for white in Oakley, Kansas with her maternal great grandmother Allena Barker Cary who stressed  "the children may not know and it is not your place for you to say anything", being introduced as her friend and having to be quiet to not destroy the life of a young man living there while studying his features, wanting to say “I am your cousin!”; Allena writing down family oral histories, being interviewed by the Amistad Research Center and newspapers in Topeka, Kansas and Canada; her 5th great grandmother Lamoneha, lured upon a ship in Africa then enslaved in Kentucky and daughter Almeda and granddaughter Linny going to Canada on the Underground Railroad; Linny marrying John Langston Buckner, the great grandson of  European descent Revolutionary War patriot William Buckner; William's son, John having two sons with enslaved Mary "Polly"; John freeing their two sons in his will and wanting them to be educated to become farmers and cordwainers; sons moving to Malden, Amherstburg Canada, holding land; their son Thomas, fighting in the Rebellion Patriot’s War on the Canadian border from 1837-1839 and being a spokesperson for free people of color, starting schools, settling in Kansas; William’s civil service as a magistrate in Caroline County VA, the first county to cut ties with the Royal Government, calling court together with fellow patriot Edmund Pendleton after a messenger on horseback carried the news from Philadelphia; William being married to a relative of President James Madison but her application to James Madison society denied because John was not married to "Poly"; Almeda interviewed at 106 as oldest person in Topeka; ancestors listed as white on marriage records but black in later census in Colorado where small population of blacks weren't perceived as an economic threat, Ku Klux Klan instead against Asians in laundry industry; adjusting to Washington D.C., in stark contrast to the haven of Wiesbaden, Germany where she attended high school, to attend Howard University, having never seen the campus, and matriculate at her parents’ beloved alma mater, driven by their fervent and spectacular memories; being a passionate pianist, but her father, retired Air Force Colonel and pathologist, insisting she pursue a more practical career; studying nursing for a year then switching to Broadcast Journalism; losing her eight year old daughter Lauren in a tragic car accident, separated from her husband at the time; organizing a family band each Christmas with others playing flute, violin, clarinet, drums; working as managing editor for journal Investigative Radiology, for over twenty years and on Smithsonian’s early phase of the National Museum of African American History and Culture; being uncomfortable when a white DAR member talked about being in Confederacy lineage society and how Union soldiers destroyed their family's records and plantations; serving on chapter lineage committee; surprised at a DAR meeting when great aunt Bernice appeared in chapter's program; about Marian Anderson, "almost all organizations and institutions have this history ", her mother feeling more positive after seeing other women of color in DAR, "sometimes people get stuck on one incident although the person it directly affected did move forward".

 Read Karen's biography at www.daughterdialogues.com/daughters

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Gabrielle shares how towering over her family at 6’2”, she struggled to overcome nervousness about joining the Daughters of the American Revolution in which she discovered new-found black and white relatives who were members that share descendancy from her Acadian Revolutionary War patriot Pierre Richard whose descendant Telismar Richard, a Frenchman from Arnaudville, Louisiana, had a son Joseph Richard with Elizabeth John, a mulatto possibly working as a maid for family; their never marrying but Telismar having two wives; and her childhood shaping her to be committed to keeping her marriage together for her children by her being made to live with her father, after her parent’s divorce, and then having to move in with her maternal grandmother since her mother no longer wanted her to stay with him, all while her younger sister lived with her mother five hours away.  She talks about being born in Beaumont, Texas and living in Lafayette and Broussard, Louisiana; learning archery and participating in band and track in school; her mother currently living with her; marrying the father of her child and their having two more children; working at a hair salon; modeling; studying Journalism and Arts in college; wanting to prove all of her paternal grandmother's stories about family photos; her grandmother meeting white great-great grandfather Telismar Richard and his siblings who would come to see them; Pierre Richard’s Revolutionary War service in the Galvez Expedition in Opelousas and him appearing on an Acadian memorial in Louisiana; DNA testing matching her with individuals on family trees of Pierre Richard; assuming in history class that she wouldn't have a Revolutionary War patriot because she was not white; approaching a DAR booth at a San Antonio, Texas genealogy conference and learning the attending Daughter knew two members whose patriot was Pierre Richard, finding out that one was a new found white cousin, who was trying to help women of color join DAR and went on to help her apply through her papers and find a chapter; proof of Telismar and Elizabeth's union from their both claiming son Joseph, on his marriage records; joining DAR as a person of color to have a place in history and provide a way for other family members or people of color to join; discovering white cousin Michael Richard, who went to a DAR school and is in Sons of the American Revolution, through meeting his wife on Ancestry; being nervous about joining DAR, going to the first meeting with a friend of the Daughter she met who belonged to a chapter in San Antonio; later, transferring to get away from opinionated members, particularly involving comments about the Obama presidential election; working in property management with the owner of a ranch, also in DAR, whose chapter was more diverse having younger and Hispanic members, getting up the nerve to walk into her first meeting alone; acquaintances wondering why she was in DAR since it is majority white and their thinking DAR represents hatred towards people of color; correcting them, encouraging them to join, and letting them know that DAR does good things; thinking that she was the only member of color in all of Texas state DAR then, on a virtual Daughters of color gathering discovering a black member that was a relative living in Houston and that a member of color just joined her chapter; feeling more relaxed having other DAR members of color; DAR is a sisterhood and a love of history; braving shyness despite being uncomfortable recording her oral history since it is important for her children and family to know their past and that someone like them descends from a patriot that fought in the American Revolution.

Read Gabrielle's biography at www.daughterdialogues.com/daughters

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Nicka Sewell-Smith discusses attaining her Cherokee Nation citizenship; being a descendant of Cherokee Old Settler Chief John Rogers Jr., who by force, reproduced with her 4th great grandmother Annie May, of African descent and enslaved by another Cherokee, resulting in their daughter Martha May who became a teacher; Martha’s son, Isaac Rogers, enlisting in the 1st Kansas U.S. Colored Troops, working for a "hanging judge" in Arkansas, capturing outlaw Cherokee Bill who was later hung, then, Bill's brother shooting and killing Isaac on a train platform in Indian Territory in 1897; paternal ancestors enslaved by a founder of Amherst College and the father of Ole Miss; President Andrew Jackson's niece buying a share of her enslaved 3rd great grandfather, King Atlas, who was owned by a lawyer in Jackson's family, Atlas being allowed to keep in profits from hiring himself out while enslaved by his progressive slave owner who was against secession and poor treatment; contrasting with 5th great grandparents Sago's and Fatima's slaveholder and Harvard graduate, Israel Trask, profiting and living off loan interest from their enslavement while living in Massachusetts and his daughter marrying into an abolitionist family; and Revolutionary War patriot Richard Field, a European from Virginia, marrying Susanna Emory, a Cherokee; growing up in Southern California; audiophile father teaching her to swim and having lots of animals; participating in cheerleading, dance, honor society, in high school with yearbook and newspaper clubs helping her decide to major in journalism; attending Menlo College in the San Francisco Bay area with affluent classmates, being one of few blacks on an academic scholarship, having a radio show, and participating in cheerleading, newspaper, talent shows and joining Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc; father passing a month before graduating college; her job verifying doctors' credentials, like medical genealogy; recovering from dad's passing by researching his family; seeing family tree as a child then expanding it to 50 feet; leveraging family research skills to land a health policy communications position; consulting for Ancestry, producing Black ProGen LIVE genealogy web series and a podcast, writing, doing reveals for individuals and celebrities, appearing on TV's "Who Do You Think You Are?", consulting for TV pitches and individuals hitting brick walls; interest in sewing and gardening, growing crops of ancestors; maternal family including Freedom Riders and an ancestor who testified for U.S. Civil Rights Commission; Isaac Rogers, marrying Sarah Vann, a Cherokee and not enslaved; slavery as a national system; pursuing DAR since she was also applying for Cherokee Nation citizenship, both requiring the same documentation; Uncle Ben, Cherokee brother of Sarah Vann, listing family and leading to patriot on his application for Trail of Tears compensation; Uncle Ben denied rights in Cherokee Nation being on Freedman roll not listing blood quantum although his grandfather was by blood; choosing Cherokee line to join DAR; joining to add credibility to research, show black ancestry is more than slavery, and on behalf of ancestors who couldn't stake their claim; standing proxy for those who will come after her into DAR; black and East Indian friends helping with her application; joining a Tennessee DAR chapter having members with an ancestor who served as Deputy Marshall with Isaac Rogers; chapter service awards to people of color in community feeling like they were preparing for day she would get there ; “My own history is important and the fabric of what makes nation what it is ...it is varied, complicated, painful, beautiful but it is me and it is us, that's our strength.”

Read Nicka's biography at www.daughterdialogues.com/daughters

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Pazetta shares oral history about growing up in Boyce, Louisiana on a former plantation, living in the caretaker’s home with slave cabins on the property; her Choctaw Indian great grandmother Milly being traded by an Indian chief, possibly her father, for a horse as a child; her great grandfather, Revolutionary War patriot descendant Captain Henry Newton Berryman, and his first wife, Helena, a white woman, raising Milly then, him having an affair with her, resulting in a child, Many, neither being slaves; her grandfather Many's warm relationship with Helena; Capt. Henry also having children with an enslaved woman, graduating from West Point in 1817, protecting a black boy from being lynched, giving his enslaved blacks his Natchitoches, Louisiana plantation; Helena protecting slaves; her Choctaw Indian and white father and black mother both from Natchitoches; her father and his brothers marrying black since it was unacceptable for a white woman to marry a mixed race man but his sisters marrying white; her father selling high value paper shell pecans as a farmer; WWII soldiers on family farm for maneuvers, having a lonely soldier at the table every night wanting to talk; attending a four room schoolhouse; being the darkest in family; her father accepted in Creole community as "the old Indian"; being bullied in Marshall, Texas because black kids were jealous she had hair to her waist; relation to Sir Isaac Newton; earning a gold medal in the Texas AAA division public speaking contest and graduating in the top ten in high school, voted Best All-Around Girl by faculty; attending Wiley College, majoring in mathematics, voted Most Beautiful, a Kappa Alpha Psi Sweetheart, joining Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, selected as Miss Junior, Homecoming Queen, graduating Cum Laude; her Creole mother in-law wearing a black dress to wedding in mourning because her son was with a chocolate girl; sister in-law being bothered by her being accepted into the DAR; deciding to identify as black; keeping her Native American heritage a secret; working as a research assistant at Penn State Physics Dept; working at Tennessee State University teaching math and in the Computer Center; her daughter born with club feet, placing them in casts, enrolling her in ballet, resulting in her studying at the School of American Ballet and dancing with Dance Theater of Harlem all over the world; giving talks about the effect of nutrition on disabilities; hunters gathering wild deer, rabbits, squirrel and turkeys for her daughter's dietary needs; giving talks about the contributions and culture of Native Americans; lifting weights five times a week; her maternal ancestors enslaved on George Washington's plantation; feeling a sense of pride discovering her Revolutionary War patriot William Berryman serving in Virginia; for those who suggest we go back to Africa "my lineage was here before you arrived and we fought for the freedom of this country"; father saying to maintain the race, marry someone darker skinned so the descendants can have an identity and be accepted by blacks; tracing oral history by writing a sheriff in Texas who delivered her letter to a white cousin who in turn recommended she join the DAR, then her children's pediatrician's wife, also a DAR member, suggesting she join; giving DAR a try despite the society's history of racism, joining to be a part of what she was entitled to; serving as chapter regent in Nashville, Tennessee, a couple of members transferring out because she was black but the rest embracing her; seeing more blacks in the society and members used to seeing them; "Blacks, Whites and Native Americans, we are all a part of this and we have to work together if we want to make a difference".

Read Pazetta's biography at www.daughterdialogues.com/daughters

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