In 1738 the British slave trading ship, Liverpool Merchant, arrived on the Potomac River. Onboard, 70 enslaved Africans for sale to nearby plantation owners. Some may have been purchased by Thomas Lee to build Stratford’s Great House and its dependencies. Today, the Stratford Hall Historic Preserve is paying homage to them and the unknown others who labored for the wealth of the Lee family.
Along the shore of the Potomac River below Stratford Hall Historic Preserve, descendants of those enslaved here read the names of ancestors from paper labels they weave into a reed raft. As the sun sets the raft is gently pushed into the river. The history of this plantation has always honored the Lee family and their well-known sons, who both signed the Declaration of Independence. Missing has been the story of the enslaved who contributed to the success and wealth of the Lee family. Three years ago, Stratford began helping descendants of the enslaved connect and celebrate their stories.
"I walk in the footsteps of the ancestors," Cheyney McKnight notes. "They came here with skills such as blacksmithing, masonry, medicine, music and farming to just name a few. They came here empty-handed. They did not come here empty-headed."
McKnight is a historical interpreter and public historian. She led Stratford’s third annual First Africans Day ceremonies that brings descendants together here to commemorate and to discover more about their ancestors.
Among those attending: Linda Whitlock-Brown, Marlene Whitlock-Peterson and Shirley Whitlock-Gunn. "And our fathers were brothers," Linda points out. "All of us in the family have known of Rachel Lee being a part of what was then Stratford Plantation. She was our grandfather’s mother. Martin Van Buren Lee and Mariah O’Connell Lee, who were Rachel’s parents."
"We have a huge family tree and at the top of it says Stratford Hall. We’ve been seeing it all of our lives," Marlene adds.
Stratford is reimbursing descendants the cost of ancestry DNA kits. Through ground-penetrating radar, 92 graves have been found so far.
Linda drops a bomb about her DNA test. "I found Martin Van Buren’s father, Moses Lee here at Stratford. So, we have to … yeah…dig."
"Oh, my gosh. I mean that just answers so many questions. That just unlocks so much," says Marlene.
"Rachel wasn’t enslaved, Martin Van Buren was. And then Moses was," Linda notes. "And Moses, he goes back to like the 1700’s, late 1700’s. But it’s going to just take that much more research here at Stratford."
The stories of the enslaved come from the things they left behind, objects from their homelands they held onto through Middle Passage from West Africa. "We’ve been reassessing our collections that have been sitting on shelves for decades," says Stratford Hall’s Vice President of Collections and Public Engagement, Dr. Kelley Fanto Deetz. "A couple of things that we’ve found with fresh eyes really helped changed the narrative here. The oval site where those first enslaved Africans had to live during the construction of the house we found a bead. It is very indicative of that West African adornment tradition. And we also have a beautiful pipe that’s made out of amber with a sterling silver mouthpiece on it. So, when you find these things, it makes you think about the people that were able to hang on to those little bits of their homeland, to remember what it was like before they became enslaved and to then remind us what their life was when they were here."
The artifacts are on display at the exhibit, Stratford at the Crossroads: Atlantic Cultures & The Creation of America.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.