Everyone wants to know where they come from. But for most African Americans, it’s an origin story riddled with violence and oppression.

Nkrumah Steward is the descendant of slaves, and Robert Adams is the descendant of slave owners. Both men are also cousins. Steward recently visited the South Carolina plantation where his ancestors were kept 181 years ago.

Photo: Nkrumah Steward
Photo: Nkrumah Steward

He recounted his experience and shared it on Facebook.

Tonight my family and I were dinner guests at Wavering Place, an old plantation founded in 1768 near Hopkins, South Carolina where four generations of my grandmothers lived and worked as slaves when they were emancipated in 1865.
The reason I was there tonight was because 181 years ago, in 1835, Joel Robert Adams and my 4th great grandmother, one of his slaves, Sarah Jones Adams had a daughter, Louisa.
Louisa had Octavia. Octavia had James. James had my grandfather JD.
JD had my mother Linda.
And now 181 years later, after almost two centuries, my mother and father, my two sons, my wife and myself sat down in that very house and broke bread with the descendant of those who owned members of my family.
We are cousins by blood.
And tonight we took the first steps together towards also becoming friends.
‪#‎WaveringPlace‬ ‪#‎Family‬ ‪#‎Friends‬

Slave_Plantation
Photo: Nkrumah Steward

Steward approached the meeting with an open heart. He wanted to build a bridge and heal the wounds of the past. Here he is standing on the property his ancestors built, but it’s not his. Instead, Adams and his wife have maintained Wavering Place as it’s still a source of their family’s income.

Adams explained, “Our history is a shared one, and we celebrate our family connection. There’s a dark part of that history that was an unfortunate part of our nation’s past, but we don’t let that keep us from moving forward and getting to know family members.”

Since the story broke, it’s become a hot topic on social media, especially in ABC’s mentions on Twitter.

Not everybody’s down for a kumbaya moment.

Questions that need answers…

And some people just aren’t interested.

What would you do? Could you leave the past in the past?


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