People Known as Other

When I first began researching the marginal people known as "Other' in society, I was a freshman at Del Mar College in Corpus Christi, Texas. The focus of my research was worthy of the history books, but the story had been recorded falsely as Free People of Color were anonymously lumped together with all non-White cultures in history. African-Americans, Portuguese-Americans, Spanish-Americans, Native Americans, Egyptian-Americans, Turkish-Americans, Arabian-Americans, Indian-Americans and most Mediterranean descent Americans were considered Negroes even though each of these proud peoples are unique in their culture, history and geographies. The history books still read this way, with no differentiation between the diverse populations that make up the beautiful tapestry of America.  In many ways, it is still a Black and White world in our history books.  So what began as misrepresentations in history evolved into an effort to record history more accurately.  As a novice in history in 1990, I focused on primary documents and books. From my little desk in South Texas,  I couldn't relate to the torments, the suffering and loss of human dignity of Free Persons of Color in history. Those shames were hidden from me and I didn't bother to look beyond until years later when  I began interacting with the elders of these clans in Louisiana, Florida, Tennessee and North Carolina.  They related their histories (which is my history too) and for the first time, I truly witnessed the facts from the survivors and the descendants of those who endured.  As a Ronald McNair Scholar at Texas A&M University-Kingsville, I was mentored by Dr. Leslie Hunter who taught methodology. Despite my determination that someone had to write the history correctly, I encountered frustration in 1990 that the previous authors of Texas history, including a member of Texas legislature, considered the story written in stone. It was unthinkable to change what has been written before. It was better to 'not make waves'. But we have to make waves because the books are not correct and too many people are accepting myths as history. . Then, I discovered a community of historians at the Redbone Heritage Foundation and the Melungeon Heritage Association who were just as passionate about the complex, yet true, multi-ethnic heritage which is a vital vein in US history. My own experience has revealed the truth about the history of people known as Redbones, Brass Ankles, Lumbees, Croatans, Melungeons and all such mixed communities. Their suffering due to violence directed toward these clans silenced some of the elders.  They stopped passing their stories down and the heritage was almost lost. Almost. We have found this new release of Carolina Genesis: Beyond the Color Line to be profoundly significant because this history impacts many Americans who have ancestors from the Colonial Period in USA. We insist that multi-ethnic heritage and culture is meaningful and lessons of human dignity endure despite efforts in the past to extinguish the people and the history. Carolina Genesis: Beyond the Colorline could be viewed as a travesty in American history, but the true message is of endurance and preserverence. Victor E Frankl wrote in his Mans Search for Meaning, " I had wanted simply to convey to the reader by way of a concrete example that life holds a potential meaning under any conditions, even the most miserable ones." Those powerful words echo the sentiments of the authors of Carolina Genesis: Beyond the Color Line and we offer these histories in an effort to recognize the ostracization, separatism, denial of rights, violence and even murder of people known as "Other" in American history.  Families known as other in our research:  Ashworth, Bass, Brown, Chavins, Collins, Goings, Goins, Goyens, Hall, Harmon, Lowery, Nash, Oxendine, Perksins, Sweatt, Walden, Willis . . to name a few.  Our mission is to continue to correct the errors in publications so truth and accuracy remains.  My humble contribution to this book is the most accurate biography of William Goyens, Jr of Nacogdoches, TX  to date.  After 20 years of studying the Moore County, North Carolina community, politics, economics, Native American history and migrations to Texas, there is more . . . . much,. much more to come.. And are the things written in stone going to change?  Diligent historians have been working toward that goal..  Since my first meeting with Dr. Archie McDonald of Stephen F. Austin University, Nacogdoches, Texas in 1992, great strides have been made to correct a Texas Centennial Marker commemorating William Goyens, Jr of Nacogdoches.  Mr. Charles Bright,a generous conservator of Nacodgoches history, oversaw the preservation of the marker which was one of 13,000 such markers actually placed on the grave of the Republic of Texas hero.  When previous biographers pondered why Goyens could speak Cherokee, I provided them with the history of the family and their proud Lumbee Indian connections along with the fact that William Goyens fought with the Cherokee as a Cherokee in the Battle of the Horseshoe in 1814.   That is when the stars aligned and Goyens forged a relationship with Sam Houston who would later use Goyens' kinship with the Cherokees to secure the Houston-Forbes Treaty guaranteeing the Cherokees would not side with the Mexican Army during the Texas Revolution.  Now Nacogdoches can celebrate a Portuguese/Native American hero in Republic of Texas history and William Goyens, Jr. will be more accurately portrayed in Texas history.  Sadly, our Spanish/Portuguese and  Native American heroes often do not make the history textbooks either.    
Carolina Genesis: Beyond the Color Line