Daughter Dialogues

Announcing the end of season two, Daughter Dialogues will return on Thursdays in September.  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.Subscribe to the newsletter at www.daughterdialogues.com

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 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/daughtersSubscribe to the newsletter at www.daughterdialogues.com

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/daughtersSubscribe to the newsletter at www.daughterdialogues.com

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/daughtersSubscribe to the newsletter at www.daughterdialogues.com

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/daughtersSubscribe to the newsletter at www.daughterdialogues.com

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 absent 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/daughtersSubscribe to the newsletter at www.daughterdialogues.com

Karen talks about 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 her five sisters, some playing flute and violin; 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; 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; paternal great aunt Bernice Gaines Hughes appearing in a DAR chapter presentation about her service in 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion in England and France in WWII, highest ranking African American woman Lt. Colonel, and aviation cadet, that is my great aunt!"; 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, KKK instead marched against Asians in laundry industry; 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; 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 more forward". Read Karen's biography at www.daughterdialogues.com/daughtersSubscribe to the newsletter at www.daughterdialogues.com

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/daughtersSubscribe to the newsletter at www.daughterdialogues.com

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/daughtersSubscribe to the newsletter at www.daughterdialogues.com

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/daughtersSubscribe to the newsletter at www.daughterdialogues.com

Leslie talks about Theodosia, who ran off with cousin and Leslie’s Revolutionary War patriot, William Dula (Dooley) of Irish descent, leaving her first husband, Revolutionary War patriot John Patrick McMullan, and their children without divorcing; the McMullan family being told that Theodosia died; learning her long-time white friend and colleague descended from McMullan and they are both Theodosia’s 4th great granddaughters, then joining the same DAR chapter; William’s grandson James “Alfred” Dula having eight black children with great-great-grandmother Harriet Harshaw who was enslaved by him and kidnapped by his family; and a white Daughters of the American Revolution Dula descendant attending black Dula family reunions and suggesting Leslie join the DAR. Leslie discusses growing up in Lenoir, North Carolina; framing her mother's letter denying her a teaching job since she was Negro and hanging it beside her own doctorate degree; earning a bachelor's in Criminal Justice from UNC; completing a master's and doctorate in education over 12 years while working full time and raising a family; journey from working as a paralegal to becoming an instructor at Appalachian State and Lenoir-Rhyne University; teaching educators how to be more inclusive and leadership philosophy; impact of going from segregated to integrated schools as a child; bringing more diversity into positions of leadership; working as a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) consultant; giving a TEDx talk on gRaCE (Growing Racial and Cultural Empathy); serving as a commissioner of the NC African American Heritage Commission; singing in an award winning gospel recording group; Alfred having six white children with his first wife who died, leaving all of his 2,000 acres- “Dulatown”- to his black children with Harriet, and leaving homes to his white sons; her father becoming the historian for both black and white Dulas after white cousin James Dula died; the “Dulatown” documentary; the annual Theodosia descendants' day at her gravesite with white and black descendants embracing each other but other relatives not wanting to hear it; reconciling slave owning ancestry and Harriet's French father Jacob Harshaw's reputation for being cruel to slaves; father encouraging her to write a family book; Harriet's child with a black man outside of her connection with Alfred, who ran the man off with a shotgun, and the child dying in infancy; Harriet's two children from prior slave master coming with her to Alfred’s, leaving a third behind as "property"; Alfred's family kidnapping Harriet because she was living in the house with him; William being the cousin of the infamous "Hang Down Your Head Tom Dooley", executed for the murder of Laura Foster; having measured pride knowing her ancestor fought for American freedom since slavery was a component of the Revolutionary War; being against totally joining the DAR until a chapter reached out and encouraged her to join; joining to make a path for cousins to join DAR; serving as chapter vice regent; the DAR still being open and welcoming despite the recent climate in community; being “proud to open a door for other women like me to have access to the DAR... as a point of progress for a group of women who have been marginalized in the past”. Read Leslie’s biography at www.daughterdialogues.com/daughters Subscribe to the newsletter at www.daughterdialogues.comFollow @DaughterDialogs on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter

Karen discusses being admitted to the DAR in 1977 as the first known black member by defying resistance within the society; inquiring about admission to the DAR by writing local chapters, upon the suggestion of archivist and friend Margaret Ward; not knowing if there were other black members, reaching out to two Detroit, Michigan chapters, sharing that she was black, but never hearing back; being unable to meet the requirement of attaining the sponsorship of two members since no one would invite her to a chapter; help from James Dent Walker, African-American, head of genealogical services at the National Archives; becoming aware that she was the first known black to apply but would not be the first genetically black member since some white members discovered that their patriots were of color; being the first to say "I am black, I am eligible, I would like to apply”, then President General Baylies reaching out to chapters to ask who would accept her, encouraging that they "would do a great service to the national society"; the Ezra Parker chapter in Royal Oak, Michigan offering to sponsor her; appearing on the front cover of the New York Times, and in over 230 publications in stories about her admission; a California chapter requesting to review her application, not believing a black could be eligible to the join DAR; Mrs. Baylies protecting her by putting the application documents in her desk and closing the file; Mrs. Baylies being recognized, in her obituary, for admitting the first black member; smiling at the portrait of Mrs. Baylies in the DAR headquarters with each visit, "it took a village to get me there and she was part of that village"; learning decades later about having been blackballed by a chapter who voted against sponsoring her, then transferring to that chapter to heal from their rejection and serving as the Regent (leader); Peggy Anderson's 1974 The Daughters account of race in DAR; initiating her application because "I could" and it was a logical conclusion to finding her white Revolutionary War ancestor William Hood, in ten months, a patriot who had never been established with DAR; feeling uncomfortable as the only person of color at her first Continental Congress, her breath being taken away and feeling really American when the flag unfurled from the ceiling in DAR Constitution Hall; being the subject of a Jeopardy television game show final clue; her family joining the DAR; Alex Haley’s Roots, published four months into her research, serving as a major incentive to keep going; later meeting Haley and learning that he was a fan of hers; not being able to find an African forebearer; misconceptions that researchers will never get through slavery to get to a black person's patriot; not all black ancestry traces back to slavery; serving as National Vice Chair of Lineage Research for African American Patriots and Research; Real Daughter Eunice Russ Ames Davis, daughter of African descent Prince Ames, joining the DAR in the 1800's; reconciling the Marian Anderson incident; regretting going inactive for ten years, not finding how DAR was relevant in her life and how she was relevant in the society; "as a black woman, I felt I had to leave myself at the door"; feeling DAR as an organization, "we have made progress but we still have more progress to make"; feeling troubled by the state of racism in America; identifying the opportunity for DAR to educate members about diversity to continue moving forward as a society; rejecting the notion that racism is “political"; the growing number of black members; the need for DAR to be more attractive for black members; "DAR means a sisterhood, a love for history, and being an American". Read Karen's biography at www.daughterdialogues.com/daughtersSubscribe to the newsletter at www.daughterdialogues.com

Karen talks about discovering her white Revolutionary War patriot William Hood, who earned her place as the first black woman to be admitted to the DAR; her white maternal great grandmother Jennie Daisy Hood marrying black Prince Albert Weaver, in 1889 Ohio; Jennie’s mother not allowing her to bring her children with her to visit because they were showing their colored heritage; her paternal ancestor Isaiah Parker buying enslaved Charity Ann from his father's estate, living with her, and purchasing some of the 17 children he had with her, in Harris County, Georgia; Charity Ann being referred to as Mrs. Parker although they were not legally allowed to marry; Isaiah having no relationship with a white woman; her feelings about having slave owning ancestry; oral history passed down from her grandmother about Charity Ann being bought by her third great grandfather in Virginia, taken away in a wagon with two black horses; Charity's mother running after wagon saying "Bye bye my babies, I will see you in the by-and-by"; grandmother "Gram" (Beatrice Parker) being estranged from her father Thomas, son of Charity Ann and Isaiah, who is lost after the 1900 census, leaving his black wife and kids and possibly changing his name to pass for white; Gram's stories about growing up in Georgia always ending with "I saw colored folks hanging from a tree"; Gram marrying at fifteen with only an eighth grade education and not attending her own graduation because she didn't have money for a white dress which girls were wearing for the ceremony; mother not talking about her maternal family because the white side did not want anything to do with them and forging relationships with white relatives later in life; her mother's black father Frederick, of Bermuda, who in 1917 married Hazel, daughter of Jennie and Prince Albert, who lost her U.S. citizenship because of her marrying an “alien"; discovering mother's unknown half siblings while on a family vacation to Bermuda when she was twelve; Jennie meeting and deciding to marry Prince Albert in 1889; Jennie teaching Prince to read and him building a house for them; discovering Prince Albert's mother Cornelia, a free woman of color in 1860, and father Nathaniel, a U.S. Colored Troops soldier, both in Washington, D.C.; her lineage through Jennie to patriot William Hood; William arriving on a rescue mission at Fort Freeland, which was under attack by British and American Indians near the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania, unaware that the settlers had surrendered and surviving the ensuing battle; William later marrying Rebecca Lee and settling in New York; visiting the house Prince Albert built in 1810, having present-day occupants allowing her inside, the locals remembering Jennie, and her white cousins being accepting; feeling incredulous when she discovered that she had a Revolutionary War ancestor who helped fight for the America we hold dear today since she always felt “a little short of American” because of the color of her skin; feeling sad that Aunt Clara passed just prior to the patriot discovery and not being able to share in joining the DAR together so Aunt Clara could feel accepted instead of rejected because of heritage.This is the second in a series of three episodes.In the first episode, Karen shares stories about how her childhood shaped her into a pioneer. In the next episode, Karen discusses being admitted to the DAR in 1977 as the first black member. Read Karen's biography at www.daughterdialogues.com/daughters Subscribe to the newsletter at www.daughterdialogues.comFollow @DaughterDialogs on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter

Karen shares stories about how her childhood shaped her into a pioneer having the courage and resilience to defeat opposition she faced when applying to become the first black member of the DAR; her parents being fervent civil rights activists and requiring her to ride a bus one and a half hours each way to integrate a school "because somebody has to", describing it as the “worst year of my life”; being shaped by growing up in Detroit, Michigan in the 1950's and 60's; growing up reading books about the black struggle in her home library; exploring commercial art, attending operas, visiting museums, learning violin, and being in Campfire Girls as a youth; reluctantly being a debutante and her father founding The Cotillion Club and presenting young black women to society; her father ending up in a convalescent home as a kid from a leg injury going untreated due to lack of access to a doctor; her father reinjuring his leg in the Detroit race riots, as a student, and him deciding to amputate to not let it stand in the way of graduating medical school; keeping her father's poem by Emerson on her wall; her father becoming a doctor and her mother working as a teacher; majoring in anthropology at Fisk University; graduating from Oakland University with a bachelor's in psychology; completing Wayne State University law school as a single mom; going into law to apply research skills developed from doing genealogy; working as a litigator, in-house counsel, and a lobbyist; knitting to honor the practice of ancestors; participating in colonial period reenactments to carry out her interest in living history; her membership in the Associated Daughters of Early American Witches and her ancestors being hung and accused of witchcraft; her membership in and being eligible for numerous New England hereditary societies and feeling "more American than apple pie".Read Karen's biography at www.daughterdialogues.com/daughters Subscribe to the newsletter at www.daughterdialogues.comFollow @DaughterDialogs on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter

Starting off Black History Month with the first black member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Karen Batchelor, Daughter Dialogues returns for season two on the first Thursday of February! Learn what to expect to hear from Karen and from other black members of the DAR who descend from men and women who fought for the independence of the United States of America. New episodes are released every Thursday. Subscribe to the newsletter at www.daughterdialogues.com Follow us @DaughterDialogs on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter

Announcing the end of season one, Daughter Dialogues will return on the 1st Thursday of February at the start of Black History Month. This episode includes observations in review of season one, listener comments and shout outs to social media followers, podcast statistics, announcements of live virtual events to interact with the Daughters and the official acceptance of Daughter Dialogues for deposit into a Harvard library, and a season two preview. Hear the reasons behind the decision to break the series into seasons and how it is not a podcast but instead a research project; how the oral histories shift our thinking about how this nation was formed and to view black people in the United States as more than simply victims of slavery but instead provide a richer narrative to American History; common shared experiences among the Dialogues: feeling the pain of ancestors, painful rejection or denial by white descendants of ancestors, friendships formed with white descendants of ancestors and their enslavers, setting the record straight in their family history, complex struggles with racial identity because of color of skin and the context behind decision to pass for white, 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, people and color owning slaves, free people of color who were pioneers and prominent members of society starting their own schools and churches, descending from and family impact on historical figures, Daughters making history in their own right and accomplishing things not necessarily associated with black women, and Daughters as survivors; media coverage received during season one including NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, African Ancestry, and WTOP- Washington D.C.'s top news radio interviews; a breakdown of listener groups; comments from white DAR listeners: "widen the lens through which I view the world", "these stories move me to tears…this is the kind of history I want told", "I want to be a part of the work to explode negative stereotypes with unexpected stories", despite their past family history of slavery "these ladies hit the ball out of the ballpark"; comments from non-DAR member black listeners: "these are stories people need to hear’, "there's so much more to them than their patriot", "I like to hear then generational perspectives from the women in their 20s to 90s"; "it’s not just you alone but others have shared experiences"; shout outs to social media followers for the top number of shares of Daughter Dialogues posts; geeking out on numbers: Daughter Dialogues episodes have been downloaded a total of 8,000 times over past 4 months and placing it in top 40% of podcasts among 30+ million episodes available; top cities and countries in which listeners are located; the launch of live events in January during which listeners will be able to meet the Daughters and ask questions live; announcement: Daughter Dialogues has been officially accepted for deposit at Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America at Harvard University’s Radcliffe Institute, arguably the world’s largest archive devoted to history of both individual women and women’s organizations; season two preview: meet the very first recognized black member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Karen Batchelor, who joined in 1977 and was also the subject of a final Jeopardy! clue! Subscribe to the newsletter at www.daughterdialogues.comFollow us @DaughterDialogs on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter

Charlotte shares stories about her white great-great-great-grandmother who had a child with a black man and descended from Revolutionary War patriot William Lindsey Durham whose grandson is the namesake of the city in North Carolina; and her Welsh ancestry, descending from free people of color of Chatham County, North Carolina who trace back to patriarch Moses Myrick of Wales. She talks about growing up in the small close-knit community of Pittsboro, North Carolina; dropping out of NC A&T and enrolling in a pharmacy technician program at Durham Technical Community College; joining the U.S. Navy where she learned air traffic control; the strain of being in the military on her marriage; earning a bachelor's in Computer Information Systems; her career in clinical trials working as an associate director at a major pharmaceutical firm managing reported adverse events; meeting her second husband in the Navy; traveling to Anglesey, Wales with white American genetic cousins, after having only met online, that descend from Moses Myrick; Welsch townspeople assuming her white husband was a Myrick instead of her; visiting Bodorgan Hall, where the Welsh hosted a garden party for descendants at the Myrick estate; wanting to know more about her European H1 haplogroup and her hair since she was always questioned about her unusual combination of having brown skin with long silky hair; discovering three Revolutionary War patriots starting with her great-great-grandmother Luevinia’s death certificate, that named her mother Mary Pendergrass, who was white, and father Abe Horton, who was black; Mary's mother Martha Durham, descendant of Revolutionary War patriot William Lindsey Durham; not learning in school that there were free people of color prior to the American Revolution and instead only learning about slavery and the Civil Rights movement; joining DAR to document her family history; her patriots Matthew Durham (William's father) and “Chatham John” Pendergrass, ancestor of Mary's father; her frustration due to the individual submitting her DAR application not including her supporting documentation explaining the nuances of being a black applicant with the unusual circumstance of Luevinia being the child of a white woman and a black man, causing a delay in approval; Luevinia marrying a black man Rob and the couple residing on Pendergrass property in Orange County, North Carolina; Rob holding a great deal of land; enjoying DAR's outreach to veterans; the importance of representing people of color to which DAR is also of service; accepting DAR amends with Marian Anderson; her DAR membership providing validation since her family was here before the American Revolution, “I cannot be told to go back to Africa, our history is messy but that's what makes us Americans"; serving as a chapter officer; having a different outlook knowing she descends from a white woman; having a "Reese Witherspoon chin" like Luevinia; connecting with a white Pendergrass relative but descendants of Luevinia's white half siblings not being interested; searching for Luevinia's black brother Madison; "it's funny how we are at each other's throat with the unrest...we are all related". Read Charlotte's biography at www.daughterdialogues.com/daughters

Bianca talks about leading schools in the Middle East; and her Creole culture in which cousins intermarried to remain fair complexioned and preserve their culture, her grandmother deciding to passe blanc (pass for white), being adamant about not being African, and being shunned by her family because she had less European features than her siblings and associated with blacks; and her family's Creole social status and wealth attained in the Cane River, Louisiana community by former slave Marie Therese Coincoin who owned land and slaves resulting from a plaçage relationship with Frenchman Claude Thomas Pierre Metoyer. She shares stories about growing up in Bedford Heights and Cleveland, Ohio; not knowing that she was black; not being in the same social class as her peers due to parents’ divorce; earning a bachelor’s degree in Secondary Education/French and master’s in Instructional Technology from the University of Akron; her interest in developing the minds of students to explore other cultures; her independent study in France; earning a master’s in education law to protect rights of special needs students; working in Saudi Arabia as a resource teacher for students with special needs, relating to classism in their society, and not being seen as an American; working as a principal in Kuwait; frustration with U.S. schools not being equipped to address the social and emotional needs of disadvantaged students; serving as the principal of an Indian American school in New Mexico; her mother not identifying as black but instead American and her father's family preferring that he would have married a white woman; always knowing her grandmother, Lucy Couty, as white in contrast to her Negro certificate; family sending her grandmother to a Negro school apart from her siblings, who had European features, because of her more black features; family pressure on her grandmother to marry white but her instead having relationships with black men; defining Creole as the food, the Catholic church, and consanguinity; the Creole Native American, African, German, Spanish, French, and Jewish peoples creating a mixed-race group of people who lived peacefully within their isolated community while under French and Spanish rule; the Creole class hierarchy dictating that whites sit behind them in church; dating dark skinned black men in defiance of her family’s directive to not marry a black; Claude Thomas Pierre Metoyer’s Revolutionary War service; her family's history not being the traditional negative narrative of slavery; joining the DAR to preserve her grandmother's legacy after she had been rejected by both blacks and whites; embracing her African, European and American Indian heritage; "I am American before I am anything but even before I am American I am Christian"; feeling the DAR is a beautiful organization; “being American isn't about race but where you were born"; the necessity to identify with other black DAR members. Read Bianca’s biography at www.daughterdialogues.com/daughters

Sharri talks about her family’s effect on Abraham Lincoln’s assassin during an intertwined story concerning the Fugitive Slave Act, negotiated by her maternal relative U.S. Senator Henry Clay, inciting the Christiana Riot in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania where her paternal ancestors were protecting fugitive slaves; Frederick Douglass assisting her ancestors to reach the Elgin Settlement in Canada on the Underground Railroad; growing up on a dairy farm in Lapeer, Michigan, living in an 1846 farmhouse; being the only black student in her one room schoolhouse; relative Phyllis Marshall, a black Canadian TV personality and jazz singer; traveling in Europe as a soprano with the Southern Michigan Youth Chorale; competing in the Miss America franchise; earning a bachelor's in economics from Oakland University; her thirty year career at General Motors; going back to complete her law degree at Michigan State; attending a two week immersion class in Germany in her fifties to achieve her dream of becoming fluent in a second language; founding a law practice in the areas of Child Welfare, Juvenile Delinquency, and Probate Law at the age of 55; being instructed by her grandmother as a child to not talk about her ancestry because no one would believe it; her Revolutionary War patriot Green Clay who was the largest landholder and largest slaveholder in Kentucky; the impact of the free labor of slaves in creating the wealth of America; presenting "My Journey to DAR" at the Elgin settlement for former and self-emancipated slaves, in Ontario, Canada, annual "Homecoming" event; the 1851 Christiana Riot battle at the home of her paternal great-great-grandparents William and Eliza Parker, self-emancipated slaves from Maryland and abolitionists, resulting in the demise of slave master Edward Gorsuch who attempted to reclaim slaves under the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 which was negotiated by her maternal relative U.S. Senator Henry Clay; the killing of Gorsuch fueling John Wilkes Booth to assassinate president Abraham Lincoln; ancestor Christopher "Kit" Clay’s relationship with servant of African descent Matilda Tillman and their daughter Loutisha Clay’s relationship with a white man whose fear of financial ruin prevented their legal marriage; Cassius Clay inspired to be an abolitionist by Green Clay's African descent servant Mary, condemned to hang for murdering her overseer who was plotting to kill her; Cassius suggesting Mary is Green Clay's daughter; joining the DAR to preserve lineage with a long lasting institution and to provide enrichment about the formation of the U.S.; questioning about lineage during application process triggering trauma from suffering due to experiencing ancestors' lives while researching genealogy; objecting to people trying to eject citizens from America, “I'm putting my stakes in the ground.” Read Sharri’s biography at www.daughterdialogues.com/daughters

Stephani talks about how her Revolutionary War patriot James Due was not Scottish but instead a black man living with a white woman; and proving that her ancestor Vilmont Schexnayder was born to Norbert, a white man who had a child with a slave, which Norbert’s descendants denied. She discusses growing up in San Jose, California; working as a pediatric home care nurse in Sacramento, CA; opening a group adult residential home with her mother and family; running a Supported Living Coaches, Personal Supports, and Life Skills business; taking family trips with her mother, father, stepmother, and brother together; her interest in genealogy beginning with mother's stories about her third great grandfather Vilmont Schexnayder and a woman of German descent stating the name must mean Schex’s-"n-word"; how Vilmont was born a slave and was a US Colored Troops (USCT) soldier in Patterson, Louisiana; searching for Vilmont’s father; taking a tour of Laura Plantation that led to a chance encounter with guide Jay Schexnaydre who pointed her to Vilmont's father Norbert and later learning that Jay was a cousin through DNA testing; a white descendant of Norbert Schexnayder denying that he is the father of Vilmont; later taking a DNA test that revealed the descendent as her closest match; Vilmont's USCT widow's pension request explaining that she was partnered with Henry Alexander in Lafayette, Louisiana to produce children as a slave but married Vilmont in Patterson, Louisiana when she was freed; assuming her Revolutionary War patriot James Due, of Caroline County, Maryland, was white with a black or Native American partner since she only knew of white descendants of Enoch, James’s son, who were always told that James was Scottish; Enoch’s battle between identifying as mulatto or white, finally living as white and his sister Serena living as mulatto; Enoch's descendants having African DNA; being proud to know that her ancestors were here from the birth from United States; joining the DAR so that James Due could no longer be forgotten; no one knowing that James Due owned property in Maryland and is buried there in Tuckahoe State Park with no grave marker; feelings while having her DAR new member welcome ceremony in a country club which had previously excluded blacks and in 1920 hung July Perry in Ocoee, FL massacres, outside of the gates, because he wanted to vote; embracing the DAR sisterhood. Read Stephani’s biography at www.daughterdialogues.com/daughters

Shelley tells about her journey from surviving as a high school drop-out, victim of domestic abuse, and a young single mother to earning her doctorate and becoming a University of Virginia researcher, investigating president Thomas Jefferson’s beloved university and the enslaved laborers who built it. She talks about growing up in Grand Rapids, Michigan; her fervent love of the military and dropping out of high school out of anger since she was not allowed to graduate early to join the Army; living on her own since the age of 16; completing her bachelor's degree after 28 years; earning a master's and doctorate while working full time; her children’s father being killed by his nephew over a drug deal; leaving a violent relationship; the stressors that living with a mother-in-law afflicted with Alzheimer’s had on her later marriage; being forced to identify as either black or white when living in the South after not having color lines in Michigan and Hawai’i; the shock of learning about her slave ancestry and mixed race heritage; realizing her family makeup reflects American history; the emotional impact of researching Thomas Jefferson's enslaved laborers; her Ancestor Calvin Davis, a radio gunner passing for white, who was killed in a WWII plane crash during a 1941 bombing run in Meresburg, Germany; her black ancestor who owned slaves- James Roper, the son of a slave and Nicholas Roper who left everything to his mulatto son including slaves; half of James's kids deciding to pass for white and their descendants’ reaction when they learn of their black ancestry; mission to find great grandfather William Michael Murphy; Revolutionary War patriot John Boyer and meeting white descendants; ten years ago, thinking DAR was a whites only organization and not knowing about black patriots and members; working on getting seven additional patriots approved by DAR; joining the DAR and serving as chair membership chapter; “my folks helped lay the foundation of this country”, “we’ve served”, “we have to tell these stories”. Read Shelley’s biography at www.daughterdialogues.com/daughters

Author of the biography that inspired Self Made, the Netflix series about her great-great-grandmother Madam C. J. Walker, an entrepreneur, philanthropist, activist and hair care industry pioneer, A’Lelia Bundles talks about her direct lineal descent from two Revolutionary War patriots through her biological grandmother Fairy Mae Bryant who was adopted by A’Lelia (nee McWilliams) Walker, the only daughter of Sarah Breedlove (Madam C. J. Walker), and became known as Mae Walker. A’Lelia shares stories about how her ancestors, who descended from American Revolution soldier Ishmael Roberts, were pioneers that migrated from North Carolina to Indiana and created free people of color settlements in the early 1800s; and her connection to Revolutionary War patriot Thomas Archer. She discusses her family’s multi-generational use of the name "A'Lelia"; her great grandmother A'Lelia Walker; growing up in a new black suburb of Indianapolis and attending predominantly white schools; her mother (A’Lelia Mae Perry Bundles) attending Howard University and taking the position of vice president of the Madam C. J. Walker Manufacturing Company, continuing the legacy of producing cosmetics and hair care products for black women; her father’s success as the president of Summit Laboratories hair care company; the family’s expectation for her to have her own identity and accomplishments; her experience as a student attending Radcliffe College and graduating from Harvard; losing her mother while studying journalism as a graduate student at Columbia University; the journey to writing about Madam C.J. Walker; experience working as a black woman in the newsroom in the 1970s and highlights from her career at NBC covering the Atlanta child murders and Jesse Jackson, working at ABC on World News Tonight with Peter Jennings, and then as deputy bureau chief in Washington, DC; her independence working as a speaker and author; making one her first speeches at her grandmother Mae’s alma mater, Spelman College, armed with personal advice from Roots author Alex Haley; assuming board positions with the National Archives Foundation, Columbia University, and Radcliffe College; receiving an Emmy and the Gold Baton award; being recognized by the NY Times for On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C. J. Walker; her decades long relationship with her significant other; losing her father and both brothers within twelve weeks of each other; changing her impression of the Daughters of the American Revolution after learning of the society’s black members; joining the DAR despite having a complicated sense of patriotism; her expectation for America to move toward a more perfect union; and defining "Real Americans" to include people of African descent. Read A’Lelia's biography at www.daughterdialogues.com/daughters

Holly discusses raising three Uniquely Special children on the Autism Spectrum, each with accompanying health challenges, after leaving her position as a gubernatorial appointee working as the Deputy Director of Communications for BWI Airport and subsequently being selected to be the Director of Communications for the Maryland Transit Administration. She tells her story of flying to Munich, Germany to search for her German grandmother at the age of 14 as her German-born father, who was legally adopted by his black birth father to come to the United States, had lost contact with his mother for 42 years; studying journalism at the University of North Florida; working as a flight attendant, beginning her career with landing gear failure; ending her airline career after a possible encounter with 9/11 terrorists; earning a M.S. in Transportation Management at Morgan State University; leaving the workforce to care and advocate for children with special needs who often end up incarcerated at higher rates; her third great grandfather Peter G. Morgan, who was born into slavery, was selected to write the new Virginia state constitution, was one of first blacks in the Virginia House of Delegates, and was a Presidential appointee working as a Postmaster in Richmond; solving the mystery of who is the father of family patriarch Preston Riley, descendant of Revolutionary War patriot Jacob Riley; learning that Preston’s father was T.J. Riley, a white man who had a relationship with a slave named Sally, petitioned the court to take care of their sons, and left land to her; feeling a deeper sense of patriotism and loyalty to her country because of her ancestors' fight for freedom for the United States; finding her place in history; deciding to follow Marian Anderson's lead of moving toward forgiveness by joining the Daughters of the American Revolution and representing women of color because "these are our ancestors too"; authoring the book Riley Road: Navigating the Path to Discover My 6th Great Grandfather, Jacob Riley, detailing her genealogy research methodology. Read Holly’s biography at www.daughterdialogues.com/daughters

Adrienne talks about how she discovered that the black man listed as the father on her grandfather's birth certificate was a lie but instead was a white man named James Moffett from 1924 segregated Mississippi; working through generational shame, anger and pain about her slave owning white ancestry; her grandfather's connection to Revolutionary War patriots; the story of how the family of George Leighton, son of her Revolutionary War ancestor Samuel Leighton, in Massachusetts, wrote him off because he married into a slave owning family in Mississippi; connecting with white relatives who shared stories of her Revolutionary War lineage; informing the leader of the Connecticut State Society Daughters of the American Revolution that they share ancestry with Revolutionary War patriot James Collins and subsequently being invited to be the keynote speaker at the state conference during which Adrienne presented their mixed race family connection; using DNA to help point toward more record sets; the variations in DNA connections versus genetic heritage versus traditional paper research; Commander James Collins's Revolutionary War service and his letter scolding the British; joining the DAR by a white Moffett cousin providing an affidavit of family relation for her application in support of his Y-DNA test results; amending her grandfather's death certificate to name his true father; giving herself permission to explore her own history; potentially caring for the gravesites of the family of her ancestor's enslavers; her brother joining The Society of the Cincinnati; taking leadership roles within the Children of the American Revolution and Daughters of the American Revolution; assisting members with DNA lineage research. Read Adrienne’s biography at www.daughterdialogues.com/daughters

Adrienne discusses the need for greater suicide prevention support for military personnel after she endured losing her father, who served in the U.S. armed forces, to unaddressed mental trauma; losing her hearing at 16 years old from a car accident; how her off the grid exploration in Tajikistan’s Wahkan Valley in the Pamir mountains led to her interest in DNA testing for genealogy and a search for her heritage after having learned that her dad was not her biological father at 10 years old; beginning her career after studying video production at the Art Institute of Los Angeles; interspersing volunteering with Habitat for Humanity in Romania, Ethiopia, and Kenya among jobs in mobile marketing including her walking from New York to California for Steps Across America; leaving the workforce to raise her children; enjoying playing capoeira, fitness, botanical gardens and learning Farsi in her free time; discovering the realities of using DNA tests to research genetic ancestry; becoming a professional genealogist; her family not knowing or talking about their past; how family history was lost by fleeing Mississippi for California and never returning; descending from Revolutionary War patriot Christopher Guice; and discovering lies on her grandfather's birth certificate. In the next episode, Part 2, hear about Adrienne’s findings and what happened when she contacted the leader of the Connecticut State Society Daughters of the American Revolution and told her that they descend from the same patriot ancestor and therefore her family has mixed race heritage. Read Adrienne’s biography at www.daughterdialogues.com/daughters

In continuation from Part 1, Michelle shares the story of her ancestor’s acknowledged white city and black rural dual-family arrangement in Macon, Georgia. She talks about how she presented her lineage research findings of the prominent John Hart, grandson of Revolutionary War patriot Robert Hart, providing for her black ancestor Hettie Valentine and their children on his land in the countryside while also maintaining a white family in the city, at an impromptu gathering of 100 family members, which she coordinated; gathering the white and black Hart families together to formally present their lineage back to William the Conqueror; visiting the white and black Hart cemeteries together with the granddaughter of John Hart's second white wife; having her grandmother Beulah join the Daughters of the American Revolution at 99 years old during the COVID-19 pandemic after surviving the virus, a brain tumor from her earlier years and being shot in the head by white men during a racist attack; and her sons being members of the Children of the American Revolution. Read Michelle’s and her grandmother Beulah’s biographies at www.daughterdialogues.com/daughters

Michelle provides a blueprint for how women can advance to the executive level in corporate America and survive a college engineering program by sharing the story of her rise to leadership in the telecommunications industry which has included addressing the United Nations on communications solutions during global catastrophes. Michelle talks about growing up in Detroit, Michigan and how her upbringing molded her for earning a bachelor's in Electrical Engineering and a master’s in Project Management, then subsequently creating some of the first cellular devices, leading a team to deploy the first broadband technologies to keep first responders safe, and meeting with the NYPD chief of police on the 10 year anniversary of 9/11 to discuss lessons learned and how to improve future telecommunications during a disaster response effort. She begins her story of how she became the family historian and traveled to Macon, Georgia to research her lineage. In the next episode, Part 2, hear about Michelle’s findings and her experience as a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution including her grandmother joining the organization at 99 years old. Read Michelle’s biography at www.daughterdialogues.com/daughters

Joyce was first to adopt as a single-parent in Philadelphia, she complied a cohesive record of her complex family history tracing back to the 1600's and joined the Daughters of the American Revolution despite passing the grave of Marian Anderson when visiting family members, who played with Marian, buried in the same cemetery. She talks about being on the Board of Directors of the National Adoption Center; membership in the Colonial Daughters and Founding Families of PA, NY, NJ; her Revolutionary War patriot, formerly enslaved Quaker, Cyrus Bustill, who baked bread for troops at Valley Forge; Cyrus bringing his enslaved mother to live with him and handwritten letters to his brother-in-law who still owned her at the time of her death; Cyrus helping the Underground Railroad, raising money for churches started by Absylom Jones and Richard Allen, founding the Free African Society, and starting a school; her family being free people of color in the 1700's; historical figures in her family: Aaron Burr's great granddaughter, Paul Robeson, and Humphrey Morrey- the first mayor of Philadelphia and his son Richard who owned and freed "wife" Cremona, one of the richest women in Pennsylvania; writing a children's book; meeting white relatives unaware of their black DNA due to ancestors passing for white; her family documentation at Howard University, the University of Pennsylvania, Yale University, Haverford and Swarthmore Colleges, and at William and Mary; and building a database of 90,000+ African Americans interred at Eden Cemetery, including 90 family members. Joyce was featured in a PBS episode of "Movers and Makers" and her family history was also the subject of the PBS Documentary "The Montiers: An American Story". Read Joyce's biography at www.daughterdialogues.com/daughters

Dymond discusses portraying Marian Anderson at 8 years old in a black history production and then reconciling DAR's history of exclusion to join the DAR as a millennial; being Miss Black Rhode Island USA 2016; connecting with her roots through gardening by planting crops for ancestors and how her cousin Dr. Booker T. Whatley invented the "U Pick Your Own" farming concept; her 5th great uncle Elisha L. Anthony Jr., a free person of color, who served in Louisiana as a Union Army private in the Civil War and his death bed letter; investigating a family rumor of the lynching of 2nd great grandfather John Nelson; serving her community and supporting her alma mater, historically black Hampton University, as a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.; her mixed race Spanish, Native American and black, Revolutionary War patriot Michael Anthony who served in the first integrated regiment; researching lineage from Revolutionary War ancestor Mingo Pollock; how her ancestry reaffirms her place in America; connecting to ancestors through tombstones and the 1st Rhode Island Regiment monument listing Michael Anthony's service; how as a young black member, Gilmore Girls fans think it is cool and older white women seeing diversity become more open to joining DAR; giving back to the black community as a DAR member of color; serving as the regent (leader) of DAR chapter and meeting members of different races while paging. Read Dymond's biography at www.daughterdialogues.com/daughters

In continuation from part 1, Nikki talks about what happened after the O'Kelleys discovered that their family origin is not Irish but instead British; meeting white Mormon O'Kelley relatives who descended from the man who enslaved her ancestor; a member of her black family converting to Mormonism; witnessing a testimony given by a white cousin in front of his Mormon congregation; the O'Kelley lineage connection to Revolutionary War ancestor Edward Barrett; joining the Daughters of the American Revolution; reactions from others about being a black member of the DAR; taking leadership roles within the DAR; how joining the DAR has changed her life; the significance of membership in the DAR and being of service. Read Nikki's biography at www.daughterdialogues.com/daughters

Nikki shares the story of her ancestor, thoroughbred racehorse trainer of Lecomte, Hark West, who in 1854 defeated Lexington in New Orleans; breaking the 1870 brick wall by finding ancestor Zachariah Harris who joined the Union Army as a United States Colored Troop (USCT) soldier at Camp Nelson, Kentucky and was awarded Jefferson Davis' property for his service but the land was taken back by the United States government; enriching the American narrative by sharing unknown stories; using DNA testing to prove descent from American Revolutionary War patriot Edward Barrett through ancestor Ellen who was enslaved on the O'Kelley plantation in Mississippi and Louisiana and bore children for her slave owner; discovering the origin of the O'Kelley name is not Irish, as was celebrated by white descendants. In the next episode, Part 2, hear what happens when the two sides of the O'Kelley family meet and Nikki's experience as a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Read Nikki's biography at www.daughterdialogues.com/daughters

Del shares stories about having free rein of a millionaire's estate as a child in Pensacola, Florida and hunting for Spanish pirate's gold near the bayou; attending her beloved Spelman College; dispelling family lore that a slave ancestor was born in Spain by instead tracing her roots back to 1770 Spanish Louisiana; discovering her ancestor was Portuguese instead of Indian according to family tradition and translating his Spanish records; providing research which resulted in white and Filipino families learning that they share slave ancestry and a tale of a poisoning attempt; being the first black member of the Florida Pioneer Descendants Society by documenting ancestors living in Florida before it became a state; proving that her German speaking Swiss American Revolutionary War patriot Anthony Kelker had a descendant that was not full bloodied white, as argued by a relative, but instead was a Pennsylvania Dutch free man of color; receiving an award of excellence from the National Genealogical Society. Read Del's biography at www.daughterdialogues.com/daughters

Allyson talks about her background as a scientist and how she knits patterns with binary numbers, tells how her Revolutionary War patriot was a slave owner, recounts her attempts to reach out to her white relatives who descended from the man who once owned her family members, and shares that she has kept her membership in the Daughters of the American Revolution a secret from her family for 18 years...until now. Read Allyson's biography at www.daughterdialogues.com/daughters

On this Independence Day, meet the host, a black leader in the Daughters of the American Revolution and direct descendant of President Thomas Jefferson's grandfather. Learn how the podcast got started and what to expect to hear in future episodes from black and other DAR members of color who descend from men and woman who fought for the independence of the United States of America. This topic is especially relevant during this time of a global conversation about black lives and our place in this nation.