Kelly Murphy

I want to share my story because it is incredible! This is long, but take the time to read it. I am not sure if I have the facts exactly correct--it is so complicated. I won't know until the book is published.

About 4 years ago, my uncle did a geneology study that, unfortunately, turned our family upside down. My Grandfather always contended that he and his siblings were raised in an orphanage after the untimely death of their parents to pneumonia. No one ever questioned it. Why would you question something like that? Now, listen closely...my Grandfather was a shoe repair man who migrated to California from St. Louis in the early 1940's. He was considered to be quite old to be single in those days and without children. But no one ever thought anything about the age difference between he and my Grandmother. He met and married my Grandmother, who was at about 15 years his junior. They had 7 children--one of which is my mother. My Grandfather died many years ago and my Grandmother died about 5 years ago. Some letters were discovered that confused the family --this resulted in my Uncle making a committment to pursue our "real" roots.

Initially, my Uncle discovered that there was no record of my Grandfather being in any orphanage in St. Louis. That spurred a quest for the truth. After 4 years of searching through old records, traveling all through the south and hours and hours of research--my uncle discovered that my Grandfather was not an orphan at all! In fact, his father was a very wealthy plantation owner in Mississippi named Ventress. And that our family name was concocted by my Grandfather and his sister and brother in order to change their identity--they did not want to be discriminated against for being black.

Ventress was a very famous and wealthy white man with lots of slaves working on his several plantations. There is even a town called Ventress in Mississippi that was named after this family--my family and that is where the main Ventress plantation is located. Ventress was also a very sexually active man. He had 5 children with one of his slaves, Martha Holliday--one of which was my Grandfather! So, my Grandfather was not an orphan, but a child bore from a slave and her master. Although my Grandfather was bi-racial, he could "pass" for white --but not in Mississippi where everyone knew Ventress. Also, there was a "one drop rule" back then, so my Grandfather was considered black regardless of how white he may have looked, which is why he could not be successful in Mississippi--My Grandfather had certain african features--he was a very large man, with light brown skin and brown eyes. He had very large hands with long fingers. He had a long, flat nose with very large nostrils and white hair. To most he looked like a white man, perhaps French, who had worked out in the sun a lot. In those days, as we all know, persons of mixed racial makeups were social outcasts.

My Grandfather traveled to St. Louis for work and there he discovered he could "pass" for white. He got a good job--a supervisory position in St. Louis over blacks (they did not know he was black). It was noted that my Grandfather got along with "negroes" remarkably well-- his bosses thought he was white. Had they ever found out he was black, they would have surely killed him. Before my Grandfather permanently migrated from Mississippi to St. Louis, he married a woman who was also racially mixed and bore 5 children. These are my aunts and uncles whom I have never met--I think all are dead except for 2. One of my Grandfather's other children was named the same name as my mother (Marie). Upon finding this out my Mother was devastated because she thought she was her father's "special Marie"--it nearly killed her. She has always held her father in a very high regard about everything and how special their relationship was. The other Marie has now developed relationships with our family. She lives in Oregon and told my Mom that she always thought the reason her father left them was because of the color of their skin. They are medium brown. My Grandfather's other living child refuses to speak to our family--she blames us for everything and she is very bitter.

Back to the story... My Grandfather begged his first wife to migrate to St. Louis for, presumably work purposes, but she did not want to leave her family and was scared about my grandfather being "found out" and lynched. My Grandfather left the plantation, giving up everything, his wife and all 5 children and never had contact with them again so far as I know at this point. After he arrived in St. Louis, he met my Grandmother and they later migrated to California in 1940 or so.

My Uncle doing the research also found out that one of my Grandfather's sisters was the first black school teacher in Mississippi. This is just the beginning--my Uncle has just completed his book on all of this. He is a professor at Minn State Univ and was asked to do the keynote speech for Black History Month. He titled it "On Becoming Black at Age 48".

Personally, I am thrilled to know about our racially diverse family. I always knew we were mixed because subtle african features have come out in some of us. For example, my brother is brown skinned with green eyes. We always teased him, telling him he was the postman's child. One of my cousins has nappy--not curly--nappy hair and she has to use relaxer--when was the last time you knew a white person that had to use relaxer on her hair? Most of my uncles have dark hair with tight curls and waves. Although most of this side of the family is light skinned, we turn unusually brown in the sun. MOst white skinned people burn. Most of us have long, flat noses with very large nostrils. We all have very full lips and most of us have very high, round butts. This discovery has helped me to understand myself. I have always been drawn toward black people--not really knowing why. My white friends would sometimes question me.

Bottom line--you just never know. Be proud of what you are, regardless of what you are. I refer to myself as American--we all should. We are not african-american, asian-american or whatever--we are AMERICANS. Period. The sooner we migrate our races toward one single group, the sooner our thoughts and feelings will follow.

Thanks for taking the time to read this lengthy story. There may be some changes after my Uncle views this and/or after I read his book.

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