A real story of how two prisoners of slavery survived six months of intense abuse and lived to tell their American story with American PRIDE! “You can bury freedom but you cannot kill it.”
FRAMED HISTORY: TOP LEFT
Couple: Richard and Juliann Sams, once enslaved
Lizzie Jenkins: Great Grandparents
Rosewood Teacher: Grandparents
Picture Taken: 1910-ish
Their Plight to Florida Began in 1839
Their Greatest Contribution: Helped Shape America's History
RICHARD'S MEMORABLE STAMINA
Plot: To kidnap a young Negro
Place of Capture: Texas
Assignment: Walked to Jackson, Mississippi
Purpose: Black Market Slave Auction
Time of Auction: Midday
Slave Given Name: Richard Sams
His Life Speaks Volumes Between 1825-1914
Kidnapped Age: 14
Richard never saw his parents again
JULIA’S MEMORABLE STAMINA
Plot: To kidnap a young Negress
Place of Capture: Parchman, Mississippi
Assignment: Walked to Jackson, Mississippi
Purpose: Black Market Slave Auction
Time of Auction: Midday
Slave Given Name: Julia
Her Life Speaks Volumes Between 1826-1926
Kidnapped Age: 13
Julia never saw her parents again
RICHARD AND JULIA AUCTIONED OFF TO:
Highest Bidder: James Parchman, Parchman Farms Descendant
Place of Auction: Jackson, MS - Downtown Auction Block
James M. Parchman age in 1839: 22
Parchman’s Martial Status in 1839: Single
Departed Jackson, Mississippi: Following Auction
Arrived in Archer, Florida: Six Months Later
The Enslaved: Walked to Archer Against Their Will
The Hired Gunmen: Rode Horseback
Hired Gunmen's Family Members: Rode in Protected Wagons
Upon Arrival: The Enslaved Were Institutionalized
Life on Parchman’s Plantation: Inhumane * Repeatedly
James M. Parchman Died As He Lived
Parchman’s Burial Place: Tanner Cemetery
Slavery, a form of humiliation that offered no justice for Julia, a thirteen year-old teenager; fiesty, defiant, and bold, who hated every type of manual control placed upon her. She resisted all forms of abuse and was a force to reckon with, creating her very own set of house rules, which added fuel to the entire slave movement. She clashed daily with her dictators during the six-month journey to Florida. She was violated, whipped, shot at, and knocked unconscious for disrespecting a hired gunman, who thought he had killed her leaving her for dead until a Good Samaritan, (wife of a hired gunman) scornfully yelled to him, "Pick her up and put her on the wagon." He reluctantly obliged by picking her up throwing her on the wagon. This Samaritan nourished Julia back to health during the six-month journey putting real life and democracy into perspective. For this measure of humanity, immeasurable appreciation is in divine order from the Sams/Brown family members.
Richard and Julia are mortal examples of demonstrated strength walking from Jackson, Mississippi to Archer, Florida. Their story is your story and your story is our story. Different set and period, but same historic plot. Their slavery-time storytelling is a validated account of a series of historic events that happened in America. They started out young and innocent at two different points, but Richard and Julia ended up at the same place in 1839, on the Parchman Farm Plantation, Archer, Fla.
Over the years during the slave movement Julia worked her way up to the big house learning to cook and clean for Ephemia Parchman, James M. Parchman’s wife. The two of them learned to trust each other, properly sharing know-how and learning humility. They remained in touch and grew old knowing each other’s whereabouts. Before Ephemia died she gave Julia a few of her family heirlooms that remain in the Sams/Brown family today.
In the finale, Julia and Richard mentally archived their daily torture as a way of life forced upon them by captors, who contracted, purchased, and illegally controlled their lives for more than twenty years. THEY FORGAVE THE CAPTORS, ALTHOUGH THEY NEVER FORGOT THE PAIN AND SHAME THEY ENDURED! And for their fight for entrusted freedom, readers are reminded of their masterwork, which defines America's wealth.
Although, it is not commonly acknowledged, African American’s presence in what is now described as the United States, does not begin or end with the employment of slavery, which gave rise to a most prolonged extermination known to society, however, the strength of mind of African Americans has proven a worthy match.
The story of Negro Pioneers, who actively and unwillingly participated in the “enslaved movement” in the United States, is an incredible, yet extraordinary story. These women and men, encountering treacherous physical and mental harm labored in impracticable human conditions cultivating communities in areas whites considered uninhabitable, while being held hostage. Today, the markings of slavery and freedom support hard work performed by their brandishing hands, heavy-duty muscles, while discharging sweat and blood-soaked tears. Of course, the nation was built on a slave-supported system and America benefited from free labor and no amount of reparation will ever repay the wages of sin.
A white Mississippi Delta female writer amiably said, “These forest lands have been cultivated by him into fertile fields. The levees upon which the Delta depends for protection from floods have been erected mainly by the Negro, and the daily labor in field and town, in planting and building, in operating gins and compresses and oil mills, in moving trains, in handling the great staple of the country all, in fact, that makes the life behind these earthen ramparts is but the Negro's daily toil.” Her quote is taken from, “Worse Than Slavery: The Parchman Farms.” Therefore, Negroes are credited with shaping the launching of America.
“African presence in Florida is traced to the Spanish occupation of the state. Later, as African resistance to the system of slavery intensified, they sought refuge with the native people of the region. As participants in early Spanish exploration of the state and directly involved in the settlement of St. Augustine, Africans were among the first non-native people to settle in the United States. Their expert cultivation skills brought from Africa combined with the ability to speak several Native American languages as well as English, made them invaluable interpreters during the Seminole treaty negotiations,” states Morris Turner, author of Black Towns.
But the Negro Legacy is deeply rooted in Africa and entrenched realistically in America's soil. "People who deny ancestors’ history are not worthy of their accomplishments. Without history some of us have nothing and without our ancestors, we are nothing. If you disown your past, you cannot be trusted with our future.”
In spite of a six-month hazardous walk to Florida from Mississippi, coping with daily survival, dealing with shameful revelation of womanhood; Richard fell deeply in love with Julia and her goodwill, knowing one day he would ask her hand in marriage if they survived. He watched her daily fight for a freedom so real. He resented the mistreatment she endured, but was prohibited from expressing support. For years he watched her painful fight for a freedom they both compromised everything to earn.
Immediate upon receipt of her freedom, Julia changed her name to “Juliann” proclaiming real courage she earned without hesitation. Her ownership attachment was finally uploaded after years of abuse. She then married her Prince Charming, Richard Sams, self-delivering and breast-feeding all six children, the first as the result of being violated at a young age. The father named her, "Maria," when Julia was still enslaved.
After marriage, Mrs. Richard "Juliann" Sams changed her daughter’s name to Mariah Baughman, after her father, Elbert Baughman, showing her natural place in America’s history. History is not something we own; it's who we are and is traceable. Elbert Baughman was a hired gunman on Parchman's journey forcefully moving enslaved pioneers to Florida from Mississippi to help build the railroad industry establishing wealth for the wealthy.
Juliann lived one hundred years orally sharing a true account of her American story, which is her greatest contribution to her family and to America. "Until the lion tells or writes his own story, the tale of the hunt will always glorify the hunter." The victor has no contributing editorial to this piece of history.
Juliann was ninety-seven years of age in 1923, when the Rosewood Massacred occurred. She lived to witness the same type calculated deeds practiced on the Rosewood residents that she, too, excountered eighty-five years earlier during slavery. January 1 through 4, 1923, Juliann walked the floor of her daughter, Lizzie Polly Sams Brown's, house praying for her granddaughter, Mahulda Gussie Brown Carrier, safe return home to Archer, Fla. “Yes, history repeats itself.”
Juliann's Request: Keep "Lizzie Polly" in Sams' legacy.Her Wishes: Learn to Read and Vote. She was denied both.
How Her Children Remembered Her: Courageous!
Juliann's Refined Attitude: Spirited Until Death
Her Greatest Influence: Touched Great granddaughter, Lizzie Jenkins, who proudly carries the torch for the next generations.
An Internet mother explains Rosewood’s hatred to her son. "Ms. Jenkins, I am watching Rosewood with my family December 4, 2004. My young son did not understand the hatred whites had for blacks, and the mistreatment of blacks. So I had to explain to him that Rosewood occurred during a time when blacks did not have equal rights, and whites considered themselves to be the superior race. My son watched in disbelief as the angry white mob became violent and asked, "Mommy what would you have done?" In reality, I cannot say what I would have done, because my mind would have been conditioned differently, due to the time era. However, as a black woman I find the mistreatment and degradation of a black woman hard to endure, and difficult to accept in any time era. Overall, only time has changed the conditions of the South, but we as a black race have yet to be created equal." Newark, NJ.
Approached by a fellow American, “Ms. Jenkins, why don’t you let sleeping dogs lay because I’m tired of hearing about Rosewood and slavery?” Using one of great grandmother’s quotes from her book of quotes reminded me to remind him, “If sleeping dogs had been laying the nights of the massacre and during the years of slavery, no horror stories to tell.” As Colin Ray says, “This is my story and I’m sticking to it.”
TOP CENTER:
The seven Knights of Pythia and the Archer Knight Riders organized a Consortium targeting colored men, exclusively. They addressed each other as "Sir" and named their club "Men of Worth." Club members networked embracing each other and mentoring younger community men demonstrating high standards and setting goals for future generations. Florida's Colored Congressman, Josiah T. Walls, an Archer schoolteacher, was a corresponding pioneer in the Men of Worth Organization. These honorable Archer men of high-quality were complimented for wisdom and bravery.
The Archer Knight Riders rode shotgun at night protecting property lines and watching over family members while they slept. They took shifts horseback-riding and night-watching. They strongly resisted unfair treatment and stood firm for what was right. They were goal-setters and commended for holding the family together and establishing community principles.
The Real Pythian Story, a Fraternal Order of Knights of Pythias is a great international fraternity, which was founded in Washington, DC, February 19, 1864, by Justus H. Rathbone, and embraces more than two thousand subordinate lodges in the United States and Canada, with occasional lodges having been formed elsewhere. Rev. Charlie Louis Brown, a Pythian, Archer, Florida, is father to Rosewood schoolteacher, Mahulda Gussie Brown Carrier.
TOP RIGHT: Artist Harvie L. Brown of Orlando, Florida, is nephew to Mahulda Gussie Brown Carrier. His interest in art started early in life. He often heard drum beats and envisioned galloping horses during quiet time, which directed him to an interest in drawing. In the saddle is his son, Harvie Yafat Brown, currently a Marine on the .........
Do you know the beginning of the Buffalo Soldier? African Americans have served proudly in every great American war. In 1866, through an act of Congress, legislation was adopted to create six all African American Army units. The units were identified as the 9th and 10th cavalry and the 38th, 39th, 40th, and 41st infantry regiments. The four infantry regiments were later reorganized to form the 24th and 25th infantry regiments. These fighting men represented the first Black professional soldiers in a peacetime army. The recruits came from varied backgrounds including former slaves and veterans from service in the Civil War.
The nickname buffalo soldiers began with the Cheyenne warriors in 1867. The actual Cheyenne translation was Wild Buffalo. The nickname was given out of respect and the fierce fighting ability of the 10th cavalry. Overtime, Buffalo Soldiers became a generic term for all African American soldiers.
The Buffalo Soldiers Website:It's amazing to observe how man uses legacy lessons to stay connected. Mahulda is named after her Indian Grandmother.
Authored by: Lizzie Polly Robinson Brown Bowman Coleman Cotman Davis McIntyre Sams (Jenkins)