We do not have all the answers to all questions asked by friends and foes;  but this website at best is an attempt to document who lived as brothers and sisters in Christ, ... and their biological parents who often could not leave documentation that they ever lived.  You may have to travel far and wide to find them, not simply in grave yards but local archives and census records that link lives and times.

So, the site is dedicated to them, ... the known and unknown who had a story to tell that needs to be told about the Atkins, Crosswhite, Hemings, Hill, Kyle, Lee, Lowry, Martin, Taliaferro, Robinson, Sullivan, Wilkinson and many other family D&A links that pursue truth in the fervor of their own beginnings.  Indeed, each of the aforementioned families have been blessed in being chosen to give birth to at least one gifted and many talented children in their D&A chains that include African, European and in many cases Native American heritage. 

Corporal Paul L. Brady Jr. , United States  Marine

But, whether gifted, talented or average ... souls existed before our own to whom we the many owe so much to their few. Two centuries before the Mulatto existence of Barack Obama, .... William (Billy) Lee and Elizabeth (Betty) Hemings (both mulattos) born in the 18th century were among the few most well known persons of African heritage courageously in service to the world changing American Revolution of 1775-1783 CE.  

They were better known among patriots than Crispus Attucks, Paul Cuffee, Richard Allen, Phillis Wheatley, & Benjamin Baneker that artists, scholars and writers have chosen to acknowledge.  Part of the reason is due to descendent silence about Lee and Hemings in their display of courage and patriotism in the absence of liberty and citizenship. 

Another reason is that neither were likely able to read and write their own stories; but, the over-riding reason is that until very recent generations few American scholars and writers viewed people of their heritage as genuine Americans.   Indeed, the famed Heritage Foundation still does not do so, ... still clinging to 19th century aristocratic views on the ash heaps of history! 

They do not understand Jefferson's Declaration was about everyone here, and we remember him at his best because, like Lincoln, ...we believe he was inspired by hidden hands of our faith to author it.  Indeed, scholars who fail to join their learned reasoning with Messianic faith history are unlikely to change, but enlightened/educated people up from slavery can enlighten "the least of us" that they too can overcome for their offspring in body and spirit of Christ.

Until very recently, African-American faith and heritage as other than slaves and ex-slaves have been ignored by 19th and 20th century artists, historians, & writers.  And, even some unenlightened descendents (in Clarence Thomas mindset) unmindful of their own heritage but having the audacity to ignore it, ... cite beginnings rooted in themselves?  Indeed, enlightenment is gained not simply by formal education but a life of curiosity, research and reading that which matters. 

Our parents, grand-parents, and great grand-parents ought to matter enough for us to know them; and, perhaps even their parental lineage of moral worth.  To pretend such does not matter is an illusion in a world where people value ancestry.   Indeed, if ancestry does not matter to African heritage intellectual forces in mass media then the cause of goodness is dead!  We reject all characterizations depicting abnormal attitudes and behavior, such as fear and ignorance, ... as representative norms for men and women of African heritage in American history. 

   All Quiet Along The Potomac Tonight, 1863

Our family research shines a light on Cora Lee Hill Atkins, a mission-minded mother and teacher.  We also focus on social work environments and realties in the life of Nancy Lee listed on the site menu that includes but is not limited to:  Banister (Bannister), Carter, Crosswhite, Edwards, Fawcett (Fossett), Fuqua, Hemings, Hill, Jefferson, King, Lee, Lowry, Martin, Reeves, Robinson (Robeson), Smith, Taliaferro, Thornhill, West, Wilkerson and Wilson.  The stories about Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson are of little interest or value without understanding environments in which they were born and lived.

We seek to help tell their stories in the context of a liberating philosophy espoused by Jesus.  Many of our ancestors were among the multitudes that believed the Spirit of Goodness lifted them up from  serfdom, indentured servitude and slavery in Africa, Caribbean, Europe and the Americas.  Our purpose is to help tell their thousands of stories that need be heard by new generations, ... especially those yet to come and wonder about it all.  The internet affords a unique opportunity to reach out to future generations, even a hundred years or more from now, ... and let them know about your family "living word" good news, a new testament for them to live by.

We need your family pictures, notes and memories even more than your money though both would be helpful in our quest to help define relationships of goodness and enterprising lives that existed before, during and after slavery. Our gestalt view is that our ancestors were more than slaves in America but also human beings in the body and spirit of Christ who more often than not possessed enlightened beliefs, values, skills, aspirations and legacies that ought be known and remembered.  An example is the introduction and preparation of Julianne potatoes (French fries) by Chef James Hemings (Parisian trained in French culminary arts) among other delicacies for Thomas Jefferson and visitors to Monticello. 

Too many African-Americans are dying without telling the world what they have seen and heard.  Join with us in the cause of truth in helping offspring learn about what mattered most to your generation and  generations that brought you here.   Many mothers of other youthful descendents  want to understand how they are beneficiaries of the Messianic faith propagated by some African and European ancestors for the new America we now enjoy and thank God for it. They want to know what to tell their children and children's children about how goodness prevailed in the great commission.  They certainly want to know how to tell their children about ancestors who lived a useful life that others might follow, and do the same.

But, the we among us are too few and much too silent about these matters, allowing millions of offspring to be defined as unworthy of moral worth until the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation by Abraham Lincoln or at best the Civil Rights Act of 1965?  Is that all there was?  Did any virtues exist among slaves? Owners of slaves?  Was God dead? Of course not!  When the trumpet sounded, some 750 possibly descendents of William and Frank Lee joined the Union forces of Abraham Lincoln to end slavery.

A major part of the problem of course is that America's peculiar abomination as a nation of believers and non-believers: ... spanned ten (10) generations of human beings of African, European, Native American and Semite heritage.  It generated a large population of offspring of mixed cultures and colors like Crispus Attucks above and William Lee on the left. We obviously reject the perpetual notion and propagations made holy hell, ... that only one or several cultures or colors were chosen by God relative to others. 

And, we agree with Thomas Jefferson that each generation has to have its own rebellion; in the context of scholarship against ignorance and prejudices historically espoused in religion, the arts and laws ... contradicting the philosophy of Jesus we believe in the pursuit of useful lives. Indeed, if we believe in HIM as the spirit of goodness, then the generations between him and us ought to matter?   

For more than a few Americans, integration began before America.  North African traders thrived on slavery dating back to at least the Roman Empire and Arab traders in Zanzibar were famed for their ruthless greed and adventurous trading in Africa for gold, jewels and slaves (deleted in Hollywood movie scripts).  African kings, queen-mothers and chiefs were not ignorant and superstitious victims of the trade but rather the primary source of approvals for ruthless African traders to engage in the horrible trade that ultimately reduced to Africa to a land of despair and destruction.

And, all the hundreds of slave castles (factories) along the African coasts had large numbers of mulattoes in the nearby towns related to Christian and Jewish men operating the slave castles from approximately 1481 C. E. to 1810; ... when the powerful British navy was ordered to board all ships to stop the international abomination, prompting the War of 1812 with the United States.  Here again, Hollywood fails to acknowledge real reasons that American ships were being boarded and men taken off. 

Most of them were men of African heritage being rescued from bondage by the British Navy!  The practical effects is not simply a misuse by Christians, Jews and Moslems of the same biblical scriptures while ignoring teachings of Jesus; but, equally important the artistic portrayals of false images about human experiences.  Indeed, a lot of artists are gifted and talented; and, we believe have a lot to offer and can perhaps be inspired by your story.

Let us hear from you.  We have a lot names and blank pages to fill with information still being sorted and researched.  Send us an email.  We still have a lot of work to do to help satisfy your curiosity?   If any of your family ancestors are included or excluded, tell us about it.  A few of the reference sites we have used are listed below and might of interest to you.

http://www.familysearch.org

http://www.civilwar.nps.gov/cwss

http://www.legacymemorialwebsites.com.aspx

http://www.buckinghamhemmings.com

http://www.virginiaplaces.org/nativeamerican/

http://www.freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com~ajac/