It has often been said, "Life is not promised, tomorrow may never come." I say, "Plant your Black Family Tree today, for tomorrow the Roots may be gone."
I revisited my home country 22 years after leaving and in doing so, I was able to reunite with many family members and meet new ones. Each and every time that I was introduced to a new family member I would ask, "How are we related?" More often than not I would be told, "I don't know exactly how, but we are related."
I did notice that there was a common tale that was pass down through the generations (family lore), but no one knew the whole story. I also noticed that there was a huge generational gap for no one dared to ask the elders anything about family relations or family history. It was the forbidden zone of conversation. Digging up the past was at your own risk and no one was willing to risk it. That frustrated me and triggered a genealogical curiosity within me however I did nothing constructive about it - I returned home, kept in touch with my family, continued to ask questions but never bothered to make physical notes of the responses.
A few years ago my mother had a severe stroke. I arrived at the hospital with my video camera in hand. I thought, this may be the last time I see my mother alive; photographs are worth a thousand words but videos are priceless. Mom was completely paralyzed on her right side and she could barely speak as her mouth too was paralyzed on the right side.
After conducting the physical exam the doctor began the cognitive tests. He needed to know if there was any damage to her brain and if so how much. He asked her a few questions and she nodded to show that she understood. She could barely move her mouth. He then asked, "What is your name?" She replied, "Pri Pri Pring Pringle," and let out a big sigh. I said, "Good mommy! Good! Pringle! Yes Mommy, you are a Pringle!" He continued, "Miss Pringle, where are you from?" With that, my mother's eyes lit up. She became so excited that she attempted to sit up in the bed. You see, my mother was always proud to be a Jamaican and often boasted about being a Pringle. That question gave her more life than all the medication she had already received.
Dying or not, my mother had a tale to tell. "My father is a Pringle. The Pringles are from Scotland. My father used to do fishing. See my nose, that's my father's nose!" Then, she gave the biggest Little Misses Know-It-All grin. We all laughed. In that moment I realized I knew nothing about my mother or her family. Who was she? What was her story? Who knew grandpa was a fisherman with roots in Scotland.
My mother had many tales under her tongue and she was ready to tell em all. Over the following days and months I used story telling as a vehicle for her recovery. I visited her every day and recorded hours and hours of family history. It was the perfect tool because she had to push herself to speak and work even harder to recall past memories. The nurses and doctors were impressed with the speed at which she improved.
She looked forward to each and every visit and couldn't wait to tell me more. Previously unanswered questions were now being answered in great detail and with humor. Humor was something I had never seen in my mother. The sharing of her family history closed the generation gap between us. Our relationship changed. She opened up about her childhood, her lovers, her losses and she even shared the story of her life in Canada as a Caribbean Canadian, a Black immigrant in a land full of snow.
That experience prompted my advocacy for the preservation of family histories. What if mom had passed? So much history would have been lost. My mother was sitting on a genealogical vault that needed to be opened and shared with her children, her grandchildren, and the generations to come. Since then I began the process of interviewing every single person in my family. I purchased genealogical software, joined genealogy forums and began researching every single branch in my family tree.... Read the rest of this story at Black Family Trees - http://BlackFamilyTrees.com - "My Story"
BlackFamilyTrees.com is Black Irish, Black Scottish, Black British, American British, British Caribbean, Afro-Canadian, Caribbean Canadian, Afro-Asian, Indo-Caribbean, Caribbean, African American, Caribbean-American, Indians in Barbados, Indo-Grenadians, Indians in Guadeloupe, Indo-Martiniquais, Indo-Jamaican, Indo-Trinidadian, Indians in Belize, Indians in French Guiana, Indo-Guyanese, Indo-Surinamese, Indians in Venezuela and all other races mixed with Black ancestry: Anguilla, Antigua, Bahamas, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Haiti, Martinique, Montserrat, Puerto Rico, St. Kitts Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Martin, Saint Vincent Grenadines, Trinidad Tobago, US Virgin Islands, Canada, UK, Ireland, Scotland, England, Germany, Asia and more.
Loading...
4:25
Jamaican Problemsby yaadbouy9,546 views
My mother is also of Scottish descent!
tanyatmr 4 weeks ago
Very interesting!
AYWalton 4 weeks ago