3rd Great-Grandaughter of Charles Jones

And who is "Charles Jones"? Charles Jones was a slave - born around 1825 and in 1870 (the earliest census he could be found on) was living in Flat Creek Township in Lancaster County, SC with his wife, Phillis.

I found this out this past weekend. It was the 3rd annual Jones Family Reunion and they were holding it up here, in Pennsylvania this time. I could not attend the bulk of the events (like the church service in the church my great-grandmother founded or the dinner/banquet thing). But I did go to the picnic this past Sunday at Renziehausen Park. That's where I got a t-shirt, a family history book, and a name tag that read "3rd Great-Grandaughter" while my Grandfather (who got $25 for being the oldest family member there) got a name tag that read "Great-Grandson".

I did not know the reference point at all. Until I started reading the book. Charles Jones had 10 children; most of them, we have no idea about. Charles Jones, Jr. was his 5th child and was my Great-Grandmother's father. Here's my Great-Grandmother, Lillie:
At some point, she moved from Monroe, NC (Anna Blakeney, her mother moved there after her husband died) to Clairton, PA. Her twins, Mary & Martha were born in Union County, NC in 1924, and my Grandfather, Robert was born in Clairton in 1927.

So the reason why I bring this up is because I was asked this past Shabbos about what my family thinks about my choice to become a Jew. Never do I get the impression that this question is asked out of anything but genuine concern and curiosity. However, I often times wonder just how I should answer that question; without sounding trite. The average Black American family has a slew of other, much more pressing concerns regarding their children -- outside of their choice of religion. Black parents have to deal with a sea of negative influences in their community that can pull their children into teenage pregnancy, crime, substance abuse, and overall hopelessness and lack of faith in leading a productive life. I am surely not saying that White American families do not have these problems to deal with. It is just that for many more Black families...these issues hit closer to home.

During the OU's Tisha B'Av presentation, Rabbi Weinreb talked a bit about a class he gave to non-Jews; and mentioned that there were several Black women in this class. And he said, "...like many Black women, they knew their bible very well.". I mean it was just a quick blurb...but I wonder what his experience were that prompted that comment?

I have also heard it said that Black people are very "spiritual"...whatever that means. I guess I would agree that I do not know of that many (maybe no) Black atheists. I do not proscribe to blanket statements...but I have seriously never heard of a Black family disowning a child because they became a Muslim or a Buddhist or anything of the sort. Now they will talk about you until no end...but they will still consider you family. Unless you owe them money; then they will not need to disown you, because you will mysteriously disappear from off the face of the earth...

In spite of all these religious underpinnings of the Black community...I must admit that I avoid a lot of opposition on the basis of ignorance. Most Black people know very, (very) little about bona-fide, Torah observant Judaism. I also see no real need to educate them on it. You hear talk in the media about all of this Black antisemitism...but I do not buy it for a second. #1 - the Black community at large is not practicing the same type of Xtianity that incorporated anti-Jewish sentiments. #2 - Many Black Americans are just anti-everything; in that they have some axe to bury with anyone who is not Black.

Anyway, back to my own family, I feel like we are a sea of question marks...with little tokens of our past...but mainly focused on the future. The Scotts (the family that did the bulk of the genealogical research) did a lot of work to just find the information regarding these past 5 generations. Growing up, my family always just "stopped" with those members who migrated up North. Now I don't know how many people are in this book...maybe 400-500 -- but that is really just the decedents of two of Charles Jone's children and about 5 of his Grandchildren. And by far, it's just a list of names, birth dates and places (my great-aunt Estelle, Lillie's sister, was properly noted as having had died in Israel in 1971). What are the stories behind those names? I know there is a cousin, Tiffany Glenn, that married Plaxico Burress (wide receiver who played in the last Super Bowl) and there apparently are some cousins in Philadelphia who became Muslims (names are Shaheed, Nadirah, Taalib and Sameerah Shabazz). Only G-d knows where the rest of us ended up...or will end up in life.

I wish I knew a bit more about the Kabbalistic explanation of yichus. I mean what on earth type of yichus do you have when you are descended from a piece of property (or 1/4 of a human being or whatever the US government regarded slaves as back then)? Not that I even entertain notions of inferiority; I would hope to take on the yichus of Avraham v'Sarah. However it sort of puts in perspective the influence a birth family ultimately yields on the life of gerim -- curiously, very little.

*Note - re-reading this, I can see how this can be interpreted as me not being proud of my family. Nothing could be further from the truth. However I do not feel, nor does my family feel, pressure to adhere to any sort of family legacies...