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For Vincent Tucker, a visit to Africa was additionally a robust exploration of his ancestry.
Tucker and his household are the descendants of two of the primary individuals who have been enslaved in what would develop into the United States. They arrived off slave ships from Africa at Point Comfort in 1619, which, in the present day, is town of Hampton, Va.
Tucker, who grew up in Hampton, discovered of this historical past from his grandfather — and has made it his mission to share it with the world.
“Going back to 1619, people were taking the Africans, the Angolans, and enslaving them,” Tucker explains. “The Spanish ship had loaded about 350 Angolans on this ship. The Dutch ship, the White Lion, intercepted that ship and headed for Hampton, Virginia. We are descended of William Tucker, named after the plantation owner, and that was the first enslaved child documented as born and baptized in the Virginia colony. This was part of our family history that was passed down.”
In honor of his ancestor, Tucker co-founded the William Tucker 1624 Society, so as to educate the general public in regards to the first Africans to reach in Virginia. With many legislators searching for to ban academic classes centered on the historical past of people that have been enslaved within the United States, the William Tucker 1624 Society is working to make sure that this legacy will not be misplaced.
While exploring the historical past of the primary individuals who have been enslaved on American soil is important, Tucker additionally needed to discover his household’s roots past America.
That alternative got here after a Sept. 2021 assembly with Angola’s President João Lourenço on the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. Tucker and members of his household shared that whereas they’d by no means visited Angola, they hoped to. President Lourenço stated he would ship for them — which he did. Just 60 days later after their first assembly, Tucker and his household have been in Angola, studying about their household’s African roots.
“Our job, or goal, was to dig in, to help us understand what took place 400 years ago,” Tucker says of the journey. “They would capture those Africans and come through the Kwanza River. We wanted to travel those pathways … the place where our ancestors walked through, to be forced into slavery. We put our feet in the water. That was a touching moment, it was really emotional.”
Tucker shared that his go to to Africa was an important historical past lesson — one thing he could not have picked up in an encyclopedia.
“We talk about Africa as if we know Africa, but many of us don’t,” he explains. “To try and go back and relearn some of the stuff that we’ve been told that may not have been true, it was really emotional. The Angolans were full of love, the children were full of smiles, it was just so great to be there.”
The journey was additionally a full-circle second. In addition to Tucker and his household visiting Angola, members of the Angolan authorities traveled to Virginia in February to see the place the primary Angolans lived within the United States. During the go to, they sprinkled soil from the Kwanza River throughout the cemetery the place the primary Angolans in America have been buried.
“It was very symbolic, it was very spiritual,” says Tucker. “It was bringing a connection, and showing the Angolans that we are one. We are family. We are together. It was powerful.”
Now, Tucker hopes that his expertise can encourage others.
“African Americans, for the most part, have limited information about our culture, our place of origin. I recommend people visit Black history museums, all museums, really, because we have a place in America in every aspect of America,” he says. “If you can book a trip to go to the motherland of Africa, please do. If you can get to the Caribbean islands, which also had enslavement there, go so we can all learn. For me, I will continue to do international travel because I have a thirst to learn our place in the world, this country, this continent. I would recommend that to everyone — share the stories.”
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