Our history books tell us about Patrick Henry, the founding father who in 1775 famously proclaimed, “Give me liberty, or give me death!” But who were the slaves who worked his fields or cooked his meals the morning he uttered those words at the Second Virginia Convention at St. John’s Church in Richmond? In the final days of the Revolutionary War for independence from Great Britain, who were the free Black men who fought with General George Washington? They, too, are our founding fathers. They, too, birthed the nation that celebrates its 250th birthday this summer. Genealogist Orice Jenkins and writer Isiah Smith explored the nation’s fraught and complex history surrounding race, slavery, family history, and calls for reparations during a live podcast conversation on May 8 at the Alluvion in Traverse City.
