Fraser Robinson III and his wife, Marian, with their children, Craig and Michelle, now the first lady. Credit: New York Times

No, I’m not talking about hair but, since I am on the subject I must apologize to some of my White female friends, one of whom sent me an email saying “please don’t send them over here. I don’t want them swinging from my hair.” I hear you girl and most assuredly I laughed aloud when I saw her email. Neither do I and this goes back to an entry I posted here about the film “Good Hair.”

Moving on, I’m a little late to the game but I found The New York Times article about Michelle Obama’s family tree very interesting. Interesting from the standpoint so much was uncovered from her mother’s side of the family while I’m still hammering around trying to find more information about my family tree. Basically, I’m stuck in a rut.

To be honest, I may be stuck in a rut because the further back I go, particularly on my mother’s side, the more I find family members listed as “mulatto” which tells me some young girls on that side of my family were raped during slavery. I have a serious problem with young girls being raped by older men. It is such a horrible violation and it saddens me to no end. I believe this is why I am always hurt when I hear or read stories like what happened to Jaycee Dugard, Elizabeth Smart and of course, Roman PoNasty.  These young girls endured a form of slavery — imprisoned against their will — at the hands of older men. It’s horrible.

The same is true of my ancestors and the same is true of Michelle Obama’s ancestors. In fact, if you are African-American or have ancestors who passed as white but had that one drop of black blood as noted in the article “The Autobiography of an Ex-White Woman: Bliss Broyard’s One Drop”, you know a young girl was raped during slavery.

Unlike Michelle Obama, I don’t have to recant my statement when I say I am finally proud to be an American. At least our president, a biracial man, was born in a marriage and not the product of a rape. Though a number of women may claim their marriages make them feel as if they are living in slavery, Barack Obama’s mother was not enslaved and she was not 13 or pre-teen at the time of his birth.

For African-Americans, making that statement does not mean we hate America or American citizens. For me it means my history is fraught with uncivil rights — the perceived rights of uncivil men who believed they could do anything with another human being which includes the rape of children male and female — yes, I’ve heard those stories too. This has created much heartache and confusion particularly when I go back to what “Good Hair” used to mean — an African-American with hair that is anything but nappy at the roots.

The first paragraph of The New York Times article stopped me. I could not continue reading the article and had to bookmark it to read at another time when I felt myself emotionally able to handle it. The article starts:

In 1850, the elderly master of a South Carolina estate took pen in hand and painstakingly divided up his possessions. Among the spinning wheels, scythes, tablecloths and cattle that he bequeathed to his far-flung heirs was a 6-year-old slave girl valued soon afterward at $475.

In his will, she is described simply as the “negro girl Melvinia.” After his death, she was torn away from the people and places she knew and shipped to Georgia. While she was still a teenager, a white man would father her first-born son under circumstances lost in the passage of time.

That did it for me. A 6-year-old slave girl valued soon afterward at $475. While she was still a teenager, a white man would father her first-born son under circumstances lost in the passage of time. Proud? No.

It is a wonder to me this country is not more violent considering its very violent past. Last night I watched a young Black boy stand against a young Hispanic boy. He was in fight mode, body tense, fist closed tightly, and his words were so mean and hostile. While watching him, trying my best to send peaceful energy his way I thought, the seed of the father has been visited upon the son. From a violent past comes the violent present and future. This neither excuses the young man’s behavior last night, nor does it excuse the behavior of slaveholders years ago but it was an interesting thought for me nonetheless. From the aforementioned article:

While President Obama’s biracial background has drawn considerable attention, his wife’s pedigree, which includes American Indian strands, highlights the complicated history of racial intermingling, sometimes born of violence or coercion, that lingers in the bloodlines of many African-Americans. Mrs. Obama and her family declined to comment for this article, aides said, in part because of the personal nature of the subject.

Three of Melvinia’s four children were listed on the census as mulatto, one was born after the end of slavery. Who fathered the one child not listed as mulatto? Again, man’s inhumanity to man, it is quite possible she had a husband, perhaps, but as a slave marriage was not recognized. The cruelty of slavery is such that it is also quite possible she was mated with a black man to produce a healthy offspring for the master’s pleasure.

Michelle Obama’s roots is not only an interesting story about her Great-Great-Grandfather, it is also a sad story about her Great-Great-Great-Grandmother. The next time you come upon a Black woman and say to yourself “she looks so mean” — a statement often made of Michelle Obama during the campaign — realize she is not, actually she is very nice. Unfortunately, that Black woman carries the face of her ancestors, she never wants to be touched like that again.