Today is our Fourth of July. Juneteenth is a commemoration of our freedom and opportunity to join in life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And although my family’s normal celebration has been cancelled, we’re spending the holiday rejoicing with a spirit of thankfulness and admiration for our ancestors.
Last year, I took my kids on a road trip to Kentucky where we visited the former home of Revolutionary War Major Richard Bibb (the head of the family for which Bibb lettuce is named) – a white man known for eventually emancipating nearly 100 enslaved people.
While there, we attended the first ever reunion of Bibb’s descendants and the descendants of the men and women he enslaved. My children and I represented both.
We are at the intersection of Major Richard Bibb’s son and one of the women enslaved in his home. We exist because of a baby that was created under the worst of circumstances.
At the reunion, I met white strangers whose lives and experiences were completely foreign to me, yet we still felt connected.
That day, we consciously chose to embrace each other. To cry, to talk, to hug, and to wonder what our collective ancestors would think if they could see the beauty we’ve scraped from the ugly past we inherited.
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”
– Charles Dickens
But mostly it was amazing.
My great-grandfather, John Bibb, and his wife Pocahontas 
Display inside the Bibb House 
Display inside the Bibb House 
Photos of Richard Bibb & sons 
Photos of Richard Bibb & sons 
Bibb sent some of the people he emancipated to Liberia. It is believed that many died along the way. 
Photos of Richard Bibb & sons 
A list of people enslaved by Bibb 
New cousins 
New cousins 
New cousins 
Wrist and ankle shackles 
Richard Bibb’s ad selling 2 young boys along with 2 horses 🙁 
It is believed that Bibb’s religious convictions led to his decision to emancipate the people he enslaved 
The Bibb House, now known as the SEEK Museum 
Inside of church built by the black people Bibb emancipated upon death 
My children outside the church 
Certifying the Bib House as a Kentucky Landmark 
My children and as we arrived at the Bibb House
Reflections of the event written by or featuring some of my relatives:
- Invented Before You Were Born (video) – A trailer to the documentary being produced by one of my new cousins, Jonathan Knight, and his partner (and my new friend) Le Datta Grimes
- The bitter harvest of Richard Bibb: A descendant of slavery confronts her inheritance – Written by my cousin, Lonnae O’Neal (our dads were brothers)
- Christ In Unlikely Places and Spaces – Written by another new relative, Charlton Hillis. We met at the reunion and have remained in touch. Our friendship is one of my treasures from that day.
- Unique bonds: Descendants of slaves and the man who freed them gather for reunion – Local newspaper interviewed my cousin (her father and my grandmother were siblings)
- Bibb House Reunion (video) – Footage from the event
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