Reclaiming the remarkable stories of Black pioneers on Little Glen

By Berry Kendall

Sun contributor

In September 2022, two Black women from Philadelphia opened a life-changing Facebook message from a White man in Grand Rapids. Kevin Brooks reached out to cousins Carmen Hopson and Coleen Burton with his discovery that their families were inextricably linked more than 100 years ago in Empire Township. The relationship was not born of freed slaves still economically dependent on their former owners, nor were they hired live-in employees. Rather, the respective families of Joseph Payment and Anna and Levi Johnson were neighboring farm owners and pioneering homesteaders along Little Glen Lake who forged a friendship born of necessity and steeped in mutual respect.

Kevin convinced Coleen and Carmen of the legitimacy of his claims by sharing photos featuring their ancestors that he’d found in his research efforts. One was a baby picture of their grandmother, Australia Brice Young; the same photo had been in Coleen’s and Carmen’s family albums for generations. Prior to Kevin contacting them, Coleen had been attempting to fill in names on the Johnson family tree herself. After several phone conversations and Zoom sessions, the two women decided to explore their family’s homestead [now part of the Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore] in person. The cousins flew to Traverse City from Philadelphia in May 2023 and were greeted warmly by Kevin at the Cherry Capital Airport.

What transpired from that visit and a subsequent one evolved into the documentary The Search for Anna and Levi. Subtitled “A Lost History of Black Homesteaders in Leelanau County” it was written and directed by Joe VanderMeulen, a local science journalist and documentary filmmaker. He was handpicked for the project by Kim Kelderhouse, the executive director of the Leelanau Historical Society, which funded the film through various grants and had awarded Kevin Brooks their research fellowship in 2023. “Kevin is the real deal,” says VanderMeulen. “He’s a very, very nice guy, he’s articulate, and he cares. What was most important to me was that there was spirit there and a soul.”

In honor of Black History Month, a special preview screening of the film The Search for Anna and Levi will take place on Sunday, Feb. 23, at 2 pm at The Bay Theatre in Suttons Bay. Click here for information and tickets.

Through his extensive genealogy research, Kevin uncovered how vital some of the Johnson ancestors were to the continued survival of his Payment ones. He revealed to Carmen and Coleen that when his great-grandmother Lizzie Payment died in 1910 at the age of 23, their great-grandmother Charity Johnson-Brice stepped in to care for Frank and Lizzie’s three young children for a period of two or three years. One of those children was Kevin’s grandmother, Adaline Payment. In an early scene from In Search of Anna and Levi Kevin says, “Great-grandpa Frank took it hard. There was no child services or anything like that. He relied totally on the community and on family to take care of his kids.”

Featured in the film is professional genealogist Dr. Shelley Murphy, herself a descendant of Black homesteaders from Benzie and Manistee counties. Offering crucial guidance to relatives getting started on uncovering their roots, she outlines the obstacles to researching Black ancestry due to the confines of records and other informational challenges.

Kim Kelderhouse of the Leelanau Historical Society says, “One of the things said in the film by one of our volunteer historians is that ‘History is often written by those who stay.’” She explains that because the Johnsons didn’t end up remaining in the area, their next generation dispersed to other parts of the state and then eventually to other states across the country, resulting in a fragmented recorded history at best.

Kelderhouse credits author and journalist Kathleen Stocking with writing early articles about the Johnson family, piecing together valuable stories and information which enabled the Leelanau Historical Society to delve even further into discovery and documentation of the family’s history for the film. “The fact that we’ve connected now with their descendants is just so incredible,” Kelderhouse says.

Joe VanderMeulen reflects on his wife’s and his initial meeting with Coleen and Carmen. “I had never known about the Johnson family before this so it was a discovery for me too. We found them to be just delightful. Really sweet women who just had energy and a really positive attitude and approach.” He recounts, “They got to the Johnson homestead and my wife Bronwyn walked with them and then said to me, ‘They’re going to want to have some soil from the homestead.’” VanderMeulen continues, “And it’s really cool because they continue to talk about how they took it back with them and spread it amongst their family members. I think they said there are 26 cousins.”

Sharing his initial vision for the film, VanderMeulen says, “I felt like this is a wonderful, touching story and I can probably present it in 10 to 15 minutes. But there’s more to the story; understanding what the history is around this homesteading and how the African-American homesteaders landed in Leelanau County.”

The answer comes from another historian featured in the film. Dr. Anna-Lisa Cox wrote the acclaimed book The Bone and Sinew of the Land: America’s Forgotten Black Pioneers and the Struggle for Equality. She speaks to an earlier migration of African-Americans that occurred before the Civil War. Hundreds of African-American settlements existed throughout the northwest territories which included Michigan. “We, as in White Americans, simply haven’t learned that background,” says VanderMeulen. “And Anna-Lisa Cox is fairly direct about it in this film.”

Kelderhouse concurs. “I believe their [the Johnsons’] story is probably only the tip of the iceberg. I think there are more [African-American] families who are not aware of their ancestors because they ultimately left the area. There are all kinds of different reasons why it can be really challenging to do this research because unfortunately they just aren’t in some public records. But also, the lack of information can also be information.”

In May, the Leelanau Historical Society will host a premiere event screening of The Search for Anna and Levi honoring numerous descendants of both the Payment and Johnson family who plan to be in attendance.

“I will say my team really loves what we do,” says Kelderhouse. “It’s stories like these that keep us inspired and keep us going because with history you never know what you’re going to find.”

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