Tag: Albert

History, Tradition, and Culture

Holiday Traditions | Mariah’s Christmas Gifts

| Karen Galloway|5 Comments
Image of Mariah Pierson Nelson
Mariah Pierson Nelson

As with most young children, Christmas was the most wonderful and magical time of the year for me and my siblings. Whether the Christmas tree was the silver metallic one with the rotating color wheel , real, or artificial, we were mostly fixated on what would be under it come Christmas morning.  Of course “Santa” was generous if we were “good”  and I do not remember ever being disappointed.  Christmas decorations and wonder aside, the best part of Christmas was the tradition of food , it’s preparation, and time spent with my family! Although I had started helping with meal preparation around the 3rd or 4th grade, It wasn’t until I was in the 5th grade did I really start to turn my attention away from toys to   Christmas “traditions “.  Actually, I think I morphed into a Keebler Elf.  Perhaps it was the move from Texas to a house …

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A Tribute

Mother’s Day, Honoring Maternal Matriarchs

| Karen Galloway|11 Comments
Image of Maternal Line Matriarchs
Maternal Line Matriarchs

As Mother’s Day approaches, I would like to honor the women who represent my maternal line.  Autosomal DNA testing has revealed that the haplogroup for these strong God fearing women is L3e2a.  These women represent women who were proud descendants of African women who lived life and nurtured  their families and those in their community sometimes under the most difficult circumstances.                 They endured the first middle passage from Africa and then a second middle passage to Louisiana. They survived generations of enslavement, lived through wars, reconstruction, and endured the grave injustices of the the Jim Crow south.  My 4th great grandmother Lytha Bryant and her daughter Francis were both enslaved. Josiah Gray and Hardy and Caroline Perry  where among the owners. I will say that throughout all of this, the family of  Lytha Bryant and her husband Nelson Taylor (b. Virginia) remained…

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