I remember when I read Roots by Alex Haley. I have to say that I found it to be thought-provoking and inspiring. It’s worth a read and if I weren’t so stubborn about re-reading, I would read it again. Instead, I’m reading The Book of Negroes and so far it is a heart-wrenching page-turner.

I joined ancestry.com recently and I was so excited and intrigued when I got started and stayed awake late into the night researching old census records. I’ve been burning myself out while trying to expand my family tree and it has been so hard to wake up at a decent hour lately. It is important to me to know from where I came and who my people were, so it is an endeavor for which I am willing to suffer (within reason, of course). After a few days of this, I took a break and just started looking again yesterday.

I called my second cousin yesterday and she told me a little about my great great grandfather on my mother’s side of the family. Apparently, he was born a slave in 1847 in Mississippi. He and his four brothers escaped via the Mississippi River (swimming along it, SubhanALLAH) and made their way to Louisiana and then to Texas.

He later married my great great grandmother Anna who was born about 1868 in Texas. She was of Native American heritage – most likely Cherokee but we’re not 100% yet.

My cousin was also wanting to get in touch with my great Aunt Ruthie Lee but SubhanALLAH – she passed away a couple of hours after we talked on the phone.

I am thinking about having my heritage traced via DNA testing at African Ancestry but I need to save up since it’s so pricey.