Family History

Our Family History - 

A Narrative

I suppose if one were to truly chronicle the Powell family history than one must be ready to embrace the hypocrisy of laying claim to a family name that was never ours to start with. Given to my great great grandfather by his white Georgian slave owner the Powell name is rooted in European history beyond the scope (or interest) of this piece. So to is the name of Amos, which from all indications has been passed down now some six generations of male ancestors in our family tree. Truthfully, our family's real name, that of the African slave who was stolen from his homeland, shipped in chains across the Atlantic, and packaged and sold in a slave auction somewhere in a gulf coast port, was lost to our family long, long ago. Long before we could admire his spirit, empathize with his sacrifice, and chronicle his illicit and foreboding journey to this New World. It is to this unnamed family member (and not that of our former slave owners) that the Powell family honors and acknowledges as our ancestral father.