Guest Post by Kristine Schwartzman

​Like others who helped enslaved people on their journey for freedom, Nancy Kendall rarely knew what happened to the freedom seekers after they left her home. But she did hear from one woman she helped. She’d made it to safety. 

We often speak about the Emancipation Proclamation as a happy ending. But, for many freed people, the end of slavery was far from the storybook ending many imagine. 

An excerpt from the Library of Congress collection of recordings of former slaves, Voices Remembering Slavery: Freed People Tell Their Stories, Laura Smalley describes what happened:

“We didn't know where to go. Mom and them didn't know where to go. You see, after freedom broke, they started just, like, to turn some of them out, you know? We didn't know where to go. They turned us out just like, you know, you turn out cattle (laughter), I'd say.”

Smalley was a child in Texas when her parents and the rest of the enslaved were told they were free. It was not the “master” who told them. He’d kept their freedom a secret. 

​She explains:

“No, he didn't tell. They went there and turned them loose on the 19 of June. That's why, you know, we celebrate that day — colored folks celebrates that day — celebrates that day.”

Nancy Kendall and Abraham Lincoln lived during unbelievably turbulent times. The trauma of those years was etched on Abraham Lincoln’s face.
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​I have asked myself, was Abraham Lincoln really an abolitionist? 

I have asked myself, was slavery endemic to our country’s very core?

I have asked myself, is racism so embedded in our economy and collective thought that it will always be present? Are we capable of evolving from the racism that supported the enslavement of human beings based on the color of their skin?

A recent Smithsonian Magazine article, “Meet the Black Men Who Changed Lincoln’s Mind About Civil Rights,” explores these questions.   

​Author Jonathan W. White*, describes the daring 1862 escape of one of those influential men, Robert Smalls, a 23-year-old slave who commandeered a Confederate steamer, and against extraordinary odds, freed himself, his family and 12 other enslaved people.

Smalls met with Abraham Lincoln at the White House after his bold escape, to plant the seeds of emancipation and equality for Black men. Lincoln previously rejected the idea of Black volunteers in his militia, but after this fortuitous meeting of the minds with Smalls, Lincoln embraced the idea of enlisting Black troops, as a way to physically fortify their forces in order to win the war.

However, the newly enlisted Black men were only paid half as much as their white counterparts. They also had the added risk of deadly consequences if captured.     

Other petitioners, Arnold Bertonneau, Jean Baptiste Roudanez and Union Army surgeon, Anderson Ruffin Abbott appealed to Lincoln with the argument that the free Black men who had fought for the North, had “spilled their blood” and deserved to be treated equally with both pay and the unalienable rights they felt they had earned, one of which was the right to vote.

Lincoln agreed that “there was no reason that intelligent Black men should not vote.” He did not feel it was necessary to extend voting rights to those who were poor, uneducated, those who were born into bondage or those “who had not fought gallantly in our ranks.”

The evolution of his thinking had grave personal consequences. On April 11, 1865, John Wilkes Booth grew angry as he listened to Lincoln’s speech publicly calling for educated Black men and those who had served as soldiers to be given the right to vote. Three days later, Booth gunned Lincoln down.

In our history books, Lincoln his often lauded as a great abolitionist whose beliefs were the catalyst that started the conversation and the ensuing struggle for equality for Black Americans. A deeper delve into history, though, shines a light on his emerging enlightenment on this issue.

​For the first 30+ years of his career in public service, he ridiculed the thought of equality for Black men. In his final days, he took the opposite position, but only for the Black men he felt were worthy of those rights by their actions.

While his beliefs were changing with the help of these brave men advocating for full equality for all their brethren, he was not yet willing to grant those rights to all men of color. Some of his earlier held beliefs remained unchanged. Yet, Lincoln opined that he had “labored hard…for the good of the colored race” and “would continue to do so.”

Most of us abhor the notion of racism, and consider ourselves evolved from those views. Yet do we, like Lincoln, still also harbor bits of unconscious bias? It has only been very recently that we have begun to recognize and revise the subtle remnants of racism in the world around us.

Have we all looked within ourselves to examine if our own beliefs truly support equal treatment of all human beings? Are there things we could do better?    

My Dear Readers,

How I have enjoyed talking with you.  It has meant the world to me and I appreciate that you  listen when you can. 

Our exploration of Grandfather's Gift over the last 1 1/2 to 2 years has been enlightening, and deeply meaningful for me.  I hope it has for you, as well.  We needed to put our feelings into words and share with each other, and I am grateful for this journey of sharing our feelings of what it means to be part of the human race. It gives me such comfort and hope.

Happiest of holidays, to you my Grandfather's Gift family!  May you and your loved ones share the warmth of the season, whether you celebrate Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, Boxing Day,  even "Festivus for the rest of us," or celebrations of your own making. 

Our conversation will continue...

Love,
Nancy
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To learn how the Christmas holiday celebration of today came about, see this fascinating History Channel Documentary, "The Origins of Christmas."

Dear Readers,

As we head into the holiday season, I can’t help but ponder the whole first Thanksgiving issue.  In fact, I cringe when I remember the nostalgic, myth-soaked rendition vs the Thanksgiving that I had encouraged in the classroom during my teaching years.  It seems particularly apropos to examine our beliefs as our nation carries on with the continuing conversation about race relations in the schools.  

In the “olden days” we so enjoyed the idea that the first white people who were settling in New England, hosted that wonderful, large banquet meal for their new friends, the Indians.  A true coming together of cultures, we were told.  They surely would enjoy peace and prosperity for all the years to come.  We love to think about the original menu.  

By now we agree that there may have been some dishes we make every year, you know, pumpkin, cranberries and turkey, even at the first Thanksgiving.   While I still cook these dishes, nothing wrong with adding a bit of romance as we enhance the menu a bit, right?  It’s kind of fun to compare our new version of the menu to, say, Edward Winslow’s diary notes about the feast. His writings were the only mention of a dinner in any of the letters and diaries from that era.  

William Bradford didn’t even mention a dinner in his seminal piece, which was a complete diary of the entire pilgrim’s experiment from the time they boarded the Mayflower and reached the shores of the new world.  What we do know is that the story we've heard and told for generations is largely a romanticized myth.

Listen, I’m not giving up Thanksgiving.  I still believe in it.  We must continue to try to forge peace between ethnic groups.  And yes, let’s continue to gather together, as family and friends.  Maybe we can change the narrative a bit, though?

For a more in-depth perspective, see the PBS American Experience episode: The Myth of Thanksgiving: Native American Perspectives on the Pilgrims. 
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To view time-stamped segments, follow the topics list below:

Introduction 0:26

Who are the Wampanoag and the Narragansett? 6:02

When Pilgrims arrive what happened to Natives due to Europeans?  8:50

What really happened to the Natives of this region before 1620? 13:11

Did the Pilgrims really mean to go Massachusetts? 16:31

What did Native Oral Tradition pass down about the Pilgrims?  19:03

What Earlier Europeans did to Native American of the New England region before 1620: 22:54

Alliances between Pilgrims and Natives: 24:59

Myth of Thanksgiving:

    Pilgrims view: 28:45
    Natives view: 31:28

What is Thanksgiving from the Native American point of view? 33:24

How did Thanksgiving become a national holiday? 38:18

Thank you to Mica 1990 for the segment breakdown. 

Dear Readers,

In July 2020, when I began telling Nancy Kendall's story in a blog on Grandfather's Gift, I had no idea what lay ahead. Her story, while important, seemed easily told. I couldn't see the blog lasting more than a few months at most.

Imagine my surprise to still be publishing posts on Grandfather's Gift a year and a half later. What I didn't realize then was how so many of the topics in her journal still resound today.

People of color are still fighting for a level playing field. Jim Crow attitudes are still alive and well. Politicians still try to push through voting laws that keep people of color, the poor, and others from having a say in their own futures.

When Nancy Kendall wrote down some of her memories from the Underground Railroad days, I think she knew it was a memorable period in history. She wanted her stories told, so she shared them with my grandfather, who then shared them with me.

Nancy Kendall's journal is a gift from which we can learn from our past, and work toward a more equitable future. It is a gift I treasure, and that I'm honored to share.

Thank you all for coming along on this journey with me.

~ Nancy Jean

Few of us look at a photo or drawing of Abraham Lincoln without seeing the sorrow and sadness in his eyes. I've often thought you could drown in those eyes. 

In historian Doris Kearns Goodwin's TED Talk, "Lessons from Past Presidents," Goodwin points out that so many years after his presidency and the turmoil of the Civil War, we think of Lincoln as a deeply wounded, melancholy man who suffered unimaginable loss. 

I think most of us have experienced a type of grief, and even guilt for feeling happy when so much suffering goes on in the world. I know I have.

Sometimes, grief and sorrow become the catalyst for action. My great-great-grandmother, Nancy Kendall, used her sorrow over slavery to help fugitive slaves escape. Most of us don't fall into a hole and hide when we're sad. Not for long, anyway. That sorrow is not our complete essence, but a part of who we are as people. And, it wasn't Abraham Lincoln's complete essence, either. 

Often forgotten when we look into those eyes, is the humor, affability and wit that was Abraham Lincoln. He was a storyteller. And, he was a great one.

Undoubtedly, much of the charm is lost in simply reading Lincoln's yarns. What's missing is the way he told them. He was animated and laughed as he told his tales. Listeners were captivated.

Not a storyteller in the traditional sense, Lincoln wasn't apt to just sit and "tell a story." Instead, says Doris Kearns Goodwin, in her book Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln '"Lincoln’s form of storytelling demonstrated his “extraordinary ability to convey practical wisdom in the form of humorous tales his listeners could remember and repeat.”' 
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The Gutenberg Project's "Lincoln's Yarns and Stories," by Alexander K. McClure, is available free online. It's a vast collection of stories, witticisms, humor, and illustrations that give us a different side of the sad, sorrowful man we think we know. 

​Perhaps it's time to look at Lincoln's eyes and see beyond the sorrow. 

* From the story, Getting Rid of an Elephant, related by Charles A. Dana, 1819-1897, Assistant Secretary of War.

When I hear the names Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie, William Barret Travis, Santa Anna and the state of Texas along with a whisper of  John Wayne, of course I think of the Alamo.  The story of the freedom fighters' bravery, courage and deaths as they fought to win independence from Mexico is legendary. But, how much of what we think we know is true?

A fascinating new book entitled, "Forget the Alamo: The Rise and Fall of an American Myth," examines what really happened, and explores how the heroic myth came about. Authors Bryan Burrough, Chris Tomlinson and Jason Stanford, have written a provocative tale that not only speaks to the truth, but also looks at the surprising reasons the fight for independence began in the first place.

In one of the most controversial findings, the authors explain that the battle for the independence of Texas began, at least in part, because of Mexico's anti-slavery stance. Plantation owners from the south had already settled in the region, bringing their slaves with them. Ending slavery would have brought an abrupt end to the plantation owners' lucrative cotton trade, and resulted in financial ruin.

I won't give you any more spoilers, but I highly recommend reading "Forget the Alamo." ​
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To learn more, listen to this Politics and Prose discussion with the authors:

This Fresh Air podcast covers many of the more fascinating aspects of the book as well:
"Forget the Alamo" Author Says We Have the Texas Origin Story All Wrong"

Do you plan to read "Forget the Alamo?" Let me know in the comments. 

Stay tuned for more. 

Guest Post by Kristine Schwartzman

Written after the event by Clarina Nichols in a letter to a friend, those chilling words struck fear into both Nichols' heart and, most terrifyingly in the heart of runaway slave, Caroline hiding with another freedom-seeker in Nichols' Kansas home. 

As they waited in hiding for morning, creeping in slippered feet, whispering and drinking coffee, Nichols hid her own fear in apparent cheerfulness. In her words, she was "really in a tremor of indignation and fear; fear of a prolonged incarceration of the poor victim of oppression and indignation at the government that protected and the manhood that stayed its hand from “breaking the bonds and telling the oppressed go free.”"

At 7:00 in the morning, Nichols got word that the slave hunters rode out of town without their "quarry." When night fell Caroline and her fellow runaway found safe conveyance to Leavenworth for the next leg of their journey north. 

I accidentally came across Clarina Nichols name as I browsed books at PaperBackSwap.com.  The title "Revolutionary Heart: The Life of Clarina Nichols and the Pioneering Crusade for Women's Rights" intrigued me. Clarina Nichols? Who was THAT? 

Written by Diane Eickhoff, the book indeed describes a "revolutionary heart." A woman who was not only a women's rights advocate who worked alongside her more famous counterparts, but also a woman who fell in love with the West, settled in "Bleeding Kansas" and became an integral part of the Underground Railroad. 

Nancy Kendall talks about Kansas in her journal:

"For number of years and in mean time kansas was being settled and it (editor's note: "it" refers to slavery) was a little of a stir to keep it out of Kassas but they S Succeeded in keepping it out and in later years they had quite a work on the Under Ground Rail Road for about two years there*"

Clarina Nichols was instrumental in keeping Kansas a free state. She was a divorced mother, a journalist, lecturer, women's rights activist and Underground Railroad participant.  It's time Clarina Nichols got her due.

* Transcribed with original spelling, wording and punctuation.
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