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Running Head: Ethnographic Study

Ethnographic Study Tamesha Green February 5, 2014 SW 3510 Wayne State University

Ethnographic Study Seatts This assignment seemed like it was going to be an arduous task that would nearly be impossible to complete. The information that I would need was lost, the day I buried my last Grandparent January 13, 2012. My Grandparents meant the world to me; I was especially close to my mothers parents, as children are in most cases. My maternal Grandfather was Robert L. Seatts born January 25, 1925, a proud native of Tuskegee, Ala. He was very fair skinned, thick dark wavy hair, thin lips, very broad build with the posture of a serviceman. The infatuation I had with my Granddad started as early as I can remember. He photographed our entire

relationship, capturing our memories and telling me his story along the way. He did not own any pictures of his direct lineage, until one year he drove to Cincinnati, Oh to retrieve a picture of his mother and grandmother, from a first cousin of his. He would share with me the events of his childhood, some more freely than others, what he did not share with me, I am unsure if he knew himself. I knew that he was considered mulatto early in his life, and so was his mother Willie Lee Seatts (1904-1959). He never had the opportunity to have a relationship with his father because, his mother, Willie had an affair with her sisters husband and from that, my Grandfather was produced. It seemed as though my grandfathers family was so difficult to make sense out of, my elder relatives started guessing on the probabilities of their families place in history. Reaching out to my eldest relatives who would be my Grandfathers brothers, sisters and first cousins helped in my research to a certain extent. I soon realized that the popular search engine, Ancestry.com would serve as a great assistance in completing this meaningful exploratory, self discovery. What seemed like coincidences proved to be vital information on my existence, my findings were a bit surprising.

Ethnographic Study Seats /Organ My Granddads family received the first ten red leaf hints as soon as I put his name into the Ancestry search engine My Great, Great Grandparents were Will Seats (1871- UA) and Mollie McKinno (1882- 1919). In this report the maiden names of the women will be used. Ancestry.com linked me to vast amounts of US census records, land and court references. My

second great grandparents were called mulatto and at some later point consider Negro. Will Seats a biracial man had an illustrious affair with my second great grandmother, Mollie who was also mulatto. There was no information for her parents, other than a census record relating that her mother was from South Carolina. Will (Willie) bought his mistress a house and some land and kept his illegitimate family there. He kept two separate families one of which was with a white woman and the other with my Great Great Grandmother. The two families would never meet, but was always rumored about throughout the county. My great Aunt Alanthia said that Mollie McKino, her Grandmother was extremely prejudice of black people. Being able to pass for white in the 1800s afforded her more respect than the average black person received at that time. However being partially African American, she did not agree with her children marrying others that were painted black as she called it. Although she despised her African American sons and daughter In-laws and was out right surly towards them, she was sweet as pie towards her Grandchildren, my Auntie told me that she would let them get away with murder. Before Willie passed away he purchased land in Ohio for his biracial children and gave their mother, Mollie the deeds to issue out after his passing. After witnessing her children copulating and marrying African Americans, she refused to acknowledge their father wishes, by not giving them the deeds to their land. The land eventually became a field of Railroad tracks, probably the same tracks that brought my family from the Deep South to the Northern States.

Ethnographic Study The amount of information I was able to locate on my family had been attempted but never accomplished by anyone. My family knew very little of anyone, besides their biracial

grandparents, Willie and Mollie, they assume there must have been a white descendant along the blood line somewhere but, they could have never imagined to the extent in which they existed. My fourth Great Grandparents Martin Seats Sr. (1809 - abt 1870) and Milly Organ (1810- aft 1880) settled in the Tennessee area. Land surveys from that time show that my fourth great Grandmother was the owner of slaves. The slave schedule of 1825 showed that Milly Organ, my ancestor was 25 years old, a land and slave owner, being young and in ownership of another human being was a normal way of living for that era. I was surprised by this bit of information and I began to wonder whatever became of those slaves. November 30, 1829 Martian and Milly would marry and carry on the tradition of having a large family, thirteen children in all, none of whom we would have the opportunity to know of until now. It was not clear on how my grandfather and his parents became biracial. In fact little was known about any of my family that extended past my great grandparents. There were no pictures of our past, no stories of our descendants, slaves or otherwise. I soon began to understand why our history had been lost or so difficult to ascertain. The son of Milly and Martin Seats was named Robert Organ Seats (18361898), from all accounts and records my third great grandfather had blue eyes and brown hair, according to his army enlistment papers. He also kept two separate families, one that was accepted and the other would never be spoken of. Robert became the father of Willie Seatts my second great grandfather, by copulating with the youngest of the slaves his mother owned, Lillie. I soon began to understand why it was so hard to obtain information about my mothers maiden last name. The slaves that once belonged to Millie Seats acquired her last name. To be able to distinguish between the two sides, the slaves added an extra letter in the spelling of their last

Ethnographic Study

name and it became Seatts. Until 1871 my lineage contained one race, Robert Seats carried on a affair with a former slave and claimed all eight of her children. I was not around to confirm that he openly acknowledged his biracial children; however his great Grandson, my Grandfather, would be named after him. My grandfather did not have a relationship with his father nor did he have a relationship with his paternal grandparents, Aunts, Uncles or cousins. For years my family debated on the origin of their name, the originators of the name, the where about of others with the same last name, but to no avail the search grew colder and more confusing with each generation. The only thing that anyone could agree upon was that they were white. The task of sorting, matching and confirming information would take the entire amount of time given for this project. The interesting facts and possibilities that I have discovered has also lead me to inquiring about the genealogical DNA test that is offered through Ancestory.com. I was compelled to do so because; I could possibly have a very famous individual as my fourteenth grandfather. I would like to preserve the integrity of my research by not revealing who that person could be. How every, in both cases of my paternal and maternal ancestry, I was able to trace back to the year 1309 London England and France, a very notable lineage. The paternal line dated back to 1538 and earlier, Scotland. As dove into my familys history, I found that Tamesha Green is the first Generation with both parents being African American .My findings brought about a sense of confusion that I had within myself, there had only been connection with people that I resembled, but a kinship with my opposing culture. There is not an ounce of detachment from my known culture, but still a sense of being proud that I have reliable evidence that I am of Scottish, French and Anglo Saxon decent. Their journey in search of better opportunities is the same drive and determination that flows through my blood.

Ethnographic Study Conclusion At first, knowing that my family was from the Alabama, Virginia area, lead me to believe that they faced some very terrible hardships, like discrimination, oppression, lynchings and other racially motivated tactics of that era. Being the dominate race at that time, my ancestors did not endure what my imagination had conjured up. The struggles for them seem to be, being able to

take care of very large families. The convenience of going to Wal-Mart did not exist, food would have been grown, caught and slaughtered, and clothes would have been tailored at home. The major problems that they may have faced were disease, being vulnerable in the harsh elements, and little resources. Living with eight, thirteen and even nineteen children at home, one could assume that they were close and they took care of one another. The traditions my grandfather made with us was the first, not just for us but for him as well. He loved to celebrate together, it did not matter what the occasion was he would definitely be there. His sense of belonging must have arisen from him not being able be connected to any of his immediate family. Abandoned by his mother, rejected by his father and raised by a grandmother that was racists, he was always the first one present for his child and grandchildren. He taught me things that he learned on his own, he took so many pictures because no one took the time to capture his. He made sure he saw us every day or every other day because, his granddad never wanted to see him. I am very glad that I had the opportunity to complete this assignment, instead of assuming I know who I am, I actually know exactly who I am and where I derive.

Ethnographic Study References Information retrieved from http://www.ancestry.com January 24, 2014 Information obtained from, Bennet. A, January 25, 2014, Yonkers, New York. www.biography.com

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