Interview Clip: The Trees Have Stories

In August 2018, as a part of the Slave Dwelling Project that was hosted and kicked-off by the Afro-American Historic Association of Fauquier County, I had the opportunity to sleep in a slave cabin that once meagerly housed enslaved African-Americans. The slave cabin was located in Fauquier County, Virginia on the property of the Clifton Institute, a property once owned by the slaveowner, John Blackwell. According to the 1860 census, he held up to 20 enslaved persons ranging from ages 1 to 69. With one month into my official journey of documenting my family story with funding through the Path Foundation, I set out with a newly made friend to more closely understand a piece of my ancestors’journey in Fauquier County. Immediately, upon arriving, I met the two featured women in these photos. Cooling from the August sun and beautifully dressed, I asked them how their spirits felt being in a place that represented where their ancestors might have been enslaved. This audio clip was their response.

The music from this interview clip is taken from A Revolutionary Summer’s summer performance of “I Dream a World.” The artist featured is Kudo NYC, a student at Baltimore City School of the Arts and the young man who created the theme music to Perpetual Blackness.

The Clifton Institute, the former plantation, August 2018.