Remembering my Great Grandmother Rev. Frankie Senter on International women’s day!

When I was a little girl, I spent quite a bit of time with my great-great grandmother Rev.

Frankie Senter.

She had a big house that sat up on a hill near the Magnavox factory in Morristown, Tennessee.

I remember she had very long hair and will always keep it tucked beneath a bonnet or scarf.

One day I sat as she brushed her hair and I could not believe how long it was. At that point she had to have been in her 80s so it was gray, but it was so pretty!

I remember telling her how pretty it was, and she said with the straightest face “you can thank the white people for that.” 👀👀👀

As a child I did not know what she meant but as I got older she began to explain.

She believed that she was the product of a rape.

She believed her white grandmother Sarah was raped by a black slave. That the relationship was not loving or mutual.

She believed that she was here on earth because of the result of a horrific act.

It was not until a few years ago when I did my own ancestry DNA that I was able to trace her history.

Frankie’s story goes back to when my fifth great grandmother Elizabeth traveled to Baltimore Maryland as an indentured servant from Dublin Ireland.

Shortly after her arrival she met a black man and got pregnant, which caused her to be arrested!

Her lover bailed her out and grandma Elizabeth gave her baby to a white family, promising that she would return.

She never did.

That baby (who was my fourth great grandmother Sarah Brooks) was brought to North Carolina with a white family where she was raised as an indentured servant.

It was not until she was in her 20s that grandma Sarah was told by someone on the street that she was actually free!

Sarah went on to marry a slave, even paying for his freedom. I don’t know if she met him while she believed she was also a slave, but I am still researching that.

She had 11 children, many of them going on to be preachers, entrepreneurs, even actors! Famed tennis player Arthur Ashe is also one of her descendants.

This was the one time I wished I had a time machine to go back in time to tell grandma Frankie how many loving relationships were in her past!

My aunt Ella, who is my father‘s older sister, inherited some of her features. As did I. My skin is darker, but my hair is the same length. And I have some of her same features.

This made me think about how many other ideas we are all carrying around with us.

Maybe even something that when we think about it, causes shame.

Whatever it is, take some time today to examine it.

Is it true?

If it’s not, let it go.