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Post Magazine
This Week:
A Black Man's Search for His White Family
With Neil Henry
Special to the Washington Post
Monday, May 7, 2001; 1 p.m. EDT
For more than a decade, Neil Henry sought to piece together the murky
details about his family's mixed racial past -- and, in the process, to build a bridge over the chasm between white and black.
Today, Henry, whose cover story "Pearl's Legacy," appeared in Sunday's Washington Post Magazine, was online to field questions and comments about the article and about his quest to find the other side of his family.
Henry, a former Washington Post reporter, is an associate professor of journalism at the University of California at Berkeley. He will be appearing May
15 at 7 pm at Olsson's Books and Records, at 1200 F St. NW to discuss his book "Pearl's Secret: A Black Man's Search for His White Family."
The transcript follows...
Editor's Note: Washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control
over Live Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions.
Frederick, Md.:
Your story is great! My question is: Have you met Rita yet? If so, how was your meeting with her? What family items and/or suprises did they have to show you?
Gary Anderson washingtonpost.com:
Many readers have been asking this question. How did the meeting go?
Neil Henry: Thanks much! Yes, I've met Rita. I flew down to Louisiana and had dinner with her and her family in her home in Pineville. It was a very emotional get together as you might imagine, replete with many old stories and sharing of keepsakes. I don't want to give away the surprise ending to the book, but Rita did present me a number of remarkable items, including a hand-written family history penned by her father more than 60 years ago extolling the greatness of white supremacy. It was a very emotional, painful, thrilling time.
Washington, D.C.:
Recently there has been a lot of discussion of America's shifting racial categories, especially in light of the census results. What did you think about the discussions around the census categories? Does your book inform these discussions?
Neil Henry: Good question. In my state, California, we are soon all going to be "minorities." I think it's exciting that my 8 year-old daughter is growing up in an age when she can identify herself, officially, with any racial category that might apply -- white, black etc. I however represent a different generation, and despite my mixed heritage, will always see myself as black. I am a product of my times, which never allowed such options. My book does address these issues to a degree -- with some hope that the new age might bring better opportunities for young people to fully realize their identities, but also with some skepticism due to the nation's continuing racial divisions and painful history.
Will, Chicago, Ill.:
You mention some suprise and perhaps some satisfaction over the fact that your side of the family has had such success as compared with your white cousins. Could this have something to do with the fact that a sense of "specialness," partly connected with your white ancestry, was infused into children in your family while no such special sense of status or perhaps a sense of inadequecy was infused into your cousins? I should say that I enjoyed your article very much.
Neil Henry: You're right. I was very surprised about the changes in our family fortunes in America, because such a story was not the one our national steretypes about race would have predicted. One of the hardest parts of my writing this book was facing this question of racial "specialness," as you put it -- in the end, though, I realized that it was in fact my family's continuing generational struggle to overcome racial discrimination and bigotry itself that was far more critical to our survival and success. The struggle made us more determined, perhaps stronger, in facing unique challenges that the white branch of the family had not had to face. I better stop here because I could on and on about that question!
Bowie, Md.:
Hi:
Are there any members of your African-American family who oppose what you're doing?
Neil Henry: Yes indeed. I have an irascible uncle in St. Louis, about whom I write in this book, who was simply infuriated that I would try to find our white cousins. He told me to focus on my black heritage, if I wanted to write about anything. He was the only one who actively objected, though. And I understood his objection completely. He despised what the white family represented in our own family history, and felt there was something racially traitorous about my search for them. The problem was my intellectual curiousity -- as a journalist, I simply couldn't rest not knowing what happened to the other side of the genetic tree. It became an obsession.
Louisiana:
The same sort of thing happened in my family as well but in Yazoo City, Miss. My family has never been interested in meeting and getting to know the "other" side of the family mainly because the interference our the family line has caused nothing but problems for us from the start. While I think your article is very informative and people should know what happened, I think that my family is African-American in spite of whomever forced their way into the family line and the recognition of these people is not relevant. Any comments?
Neil Henry: I understand your point completely. Indeed, my family story is hardly unique. Ironically, one of the remarkable things that happened to me in the course of my long search was the stronger, clearer sense of myself I attained as an African-American. For it was in exploring the other side of the family that I came to a much deeper appreciation and understanding of the significance, accomplishments, and true value of my black ancestors' lives, from my great great grandfather who fled slavery in Mississippi to become a successful farmer and leader in Illinois, to my father, a pioneering black surgeon in the Pacific Northwest. My coming to know the Beaumonts only deepened this sense of wonder and pride.
College Park, Md.:
You expressed delight in discovering clues to your background so this was obviously a rewarding experience. My question is what was most important factor in helping you discover your past? Did your background as reporter help make the search easier or can simple persistence pay off in the long run?
Neil Henry: Persistence can certainly payoff. One of the biggest factors, for me, was luck, though. I had documents to begin with -- AJ Beaumont's photo, his obituary, and the letter he wrote to Pearl in 1901 acknowledging his paternity. These were invaluable -- without them, I doubt I could have gotten very far. I also think my training in reporting helped a great deal.
Annapolis, Md.:
Dear Mr. Henry:
In your article you state "At times I found myself seething with an almost atavistic resentment at his portrait. When I looked at my great-great-grandfather, I couldn't help seeing the face of every white man whose racism, arrogance and privilege had translated into oppression, injustice and untold pain for so many. I saw in it all the obscenities of slavery and all the evils of the plantation era, when white men like him whipped and tortured my ancestors and took black women like Laura for their pleasure. I saw the degradation my mother had suffered in the 1940s whenever she had to travel on squalid Jim Crow rail cars to attend the segregated school where she was getting her master's degree in library science. I saw all the cowardly white administrators who shut hospital doors in my father's face when he sought to establish his career as a surgeon in the 1950s. And I saw the faces of white strangers in Seattle whose ignorant prejudice marked my own coming of age in the 1960s."
Why every "white" man? Why not every person -- whatever their color? Surely language like this -- pointed and overgeneralized -- only deepens the chasm you claim you are trying to bridge. As a genealogist, surely you know that many families of many colors in this great nation of ours over the course of our communal history were all affected by hatred and prejudice -- the perpetrators -- humans of all colors and customs -- even the same color and custom as the victims. Why are you trying deepening the chasm further?
Neil Henry: Honesty can be painful, and in those lines you see me being gut honest. I did see bigotry and institutionalized racism in the face of AJ Beaumont, and saw white racism in particular to be the bane and greatest challenge to our very existence as a people, and family, in this country. My book is a memoir, at heart, and I think memoirs have value only to the extent the writer is willing to be honest with his or her feelings, no matter how badly they might reflect on the writer. I think if you read the entire book you'll come to a better understanding of where such feelings came from in me, and how I have tried to confront them in my life.
Tucson, Ariz.:
I'm shocked and saddened to hear of the reported enthusiasm for white supremacy expressed in writing by your family member, albeit over 60 years ago. I wonder what could have turned him in that direction? His own father obviously had no such leanings, having loved a black woman and produced a mixed-race child. Were you given any hints as to this transformation within one generation?
Neil Henry: AJ Beaumont had been a Confederate officer during the Civil War, and was a town leader in St. Joseph, La. active in suppressing black political rights and helping erect Jim Crow laws. At the same time he had a taboo relationship with the freed slave Laura Brumley. Such hyprocrisy was not uncommon. His son's manuscript was devoted to the great things his father had achieved during and after the Civil War under the structure of white priviledge and supremacy. His son, however, lost all, and lived most of his life in a kind of romantic, sorrowful daze over all that had been lost. So, in short, he was his father's son, believing in all the things his father did -- and penning nary a word in his family history about Laura and the black cousin he refused to acknowledge. Never let it be said that race in America is not complex...
Annandale, Va.:
As a self-appointed family historian, I really enjoyed reading your article. As a white person thankfully raised with equal respect for all persons, it can be a little uncomfortable looking back to pre-Civil War days of my family in the south, with slaves (albeit few with my family) listed in the census. Do you have any comments for family historians such as myself encountering such information?
Manassas, Va.: Was very touched by your story in yesterday's Post Magazine and look forward to reading the book. Among other things, your story offered great information on genealogy research. Just wanted you to know that you have inspired at least one reader to start researching her family tree. Any advice?
Laurel, Md.: I'm an African American woman currently researching my ancestry. I have been successful finding records dating back to approximately 1882 or so. I believe I have an ancestor who was a free black around that time in Frederick, Md. Question: What is the best method of locating records for free blacks during that time?
washingtonpost.com: Many readers have posed similar questions about tracing their ancestry and where to start.
Neil Henry: Researching family history can be thrilling, but also very frustrating. I found court records to be very helpful -- everything from land and probate records, to marriage, birth, and census documents. I also used microfilms of old newspapers a great deal. I think the more you look into what's available at the county courthouse you are interested in, the more clues you might find in your hunt. (I recall Frederick as the county seat of Frederick County, I think. Am I right?) Try to see if you can find a court official there to give you an idea of the array of records they offer. They can be very helpful and cool people!...As for concerns about what one might encounter in American family history, I know exactly what you mean. "Follow your instinct" is the best advice I can give. I did get a fascinating note from a white woman the other day who said she had found to her surprise that her ancestors held slaves. She said she cut off the search at that point, partly out of fear that the descendants of the slaves might want to harm her financially or otherwise. Everyone's instinct is different, I guess, as are our ways of grappling with the lessons and legacy of our national history.
Durham, N.C.:
Hello Neil;
I was delighted by your article and, after finishing it, I realize why: your quest for family's roots it's similar to mine. But I hadn't been lucky so far.
My question is: Do you think that this quest and its end had changed you? How do you think it would affect your future life?
Neil Henry: This is very difficult to answer in a few lines, but please be assured that I confront these questions in some depth in the final chapter of my book. My search did change my life -- how it could not? But in ways very unexpected, both big and small, and extraordinarily fulfilling.
Alexandria, Va.:
Will you be appearing anywhere in Northern Virginia to talk about your research and your book?
Neil Henry: I am going to be appearing on a local television show in Northern Virginia next week, various radio shows in the Washington area, in addition to speaking at Olsson's books. I'm sorry I don't have the exact times. I'm also going to be on Juan Williams' "Talk of the Nation" program on NPR.
Silver Spring, Md.:
Great article and I'll get the book. Was your genealogical research confined to your white ancestors? Or did you try to research Laura Brumley's pedigree? Specifically, can you identify the African tribal origin?
Neil Henry: I wish I could have explored deeper into Laura's past. Unfortunately, such records didn't exist in sufficient form to make it feasible. Such is the reality of our history in America as a people that our history is not very well documented. In any event, my main concern was to flesh out the details of my family's life and history in America itself, for that was the connection I really wanted to make. I wasn't so much concerned with the disconnected place -- Africa or Europe -- as I was with my own homeland, a nation that has done so much through the generations to make black people insecure and rootless. I wanted to piece together exactly what happened after the boats arrived, not before.
Charlottesville, Va.:
Prof. Henry,
I was curious to know if you have still maintained a connection with your relatives in Louisiana and if you have made any connections with other relatives that you found during your search.
Neil Henry: Yes, I am in touch with Rita, and her niece Carolyn, both of whom play large roles in the book. In fact, we will all do an interview together on a local television station next month in Seattle, where I grew up. However, we are still two separate and distinct families, divided by color and our particular histories in America.
Grosse Pointe Park, Mich.:
Do you know of any others who have conducted such painstaking and ultimately rewarding research in the fields of genealogy and race relations? And at what point did you know that your research would result in a book?
Neil Henry: I'm sorry I can't tell you a definitive answer to this question. Two recent books dealing with interracial family histories, from the perspective of white writers, come to mind: "Slaves in the Family," by Edward Ball, and "The Hairstons: An American Family in Black and White." I always felt my family's story could be book, if I could find the answers to the racial mystery I grew up with. Fortunately, I found those answers.
washingtonpost.com:
That was our last question today. Thanks to everyone who joined the
discussion.
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