Some Historic News Not Related to the Coronavirus- by Matt Byrnes

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          On March 25, news broke out that the last survivor of the transatlantic slave trade was discovered, per Sean Coughlan of BBC news. This person was identified as Matilda McCrear, who lived until 1940. 

          Previously, Redoshi Smith was found to be the last survivor slave by Hannah Durkin at Newcastle University. Smith was a slave captured in Africa and brought over to the U.S. She died in 1937.

          For more information on McCrear, it was stated that she died in Selma, Alabama, in January of 1940. Family members of McCrear did not even know about this. Her grandson, 83-year-old Johnny Crear, claims he didn't know about his grandmother's history. Crear was actually in Selma once where he witnessed violence against civil rights marchers. The protesters were addressed by Dr. Martin Luther King. 

          Here is what Crear had to say about his discovering his grandmother's backstory: "I had a lot of mixed emotions. I thought if she hadn't undergone what had happened, I wouldn't be here. But that was followed by anger."

          McCrear was captured at the age of 2 by slave traders in Africa. She arrived in Alabama in 1860 while onboard one of the last transatlantic slave ships. One of the only good things to come, at first, was that she was with part of her family as her mother Grace, sister Salie, and herself were all brought together by the same plantation owner. Unfortunately, her two brothers and father were left behind in Africa. More unfortunate events came when she and her sister were later sold to another owner which separated them from their mother. Before Sallie and Matilda were sold away, both of them and their mother tried escaping the plantation as soon as they got to the place. However, they were recaptured. 

          Luckily, in 1865, slavery was abolished. Emancipation was brought, however, each one of them still had to work the fields. This time it wasn't as slaves. It was as share-croppers. After being emancipated, Matilda never got married. Instead, she had 14 kids with a white german man who was likely Jewish according to Dr. Durkin. Durkin claims this relationship is "astonishing" for its era. 

          Even though McCrear left Africa at the age of 2, she still kept some of its traditions. Some examples are that she wore her hair in the traditional Yoruba style along with facial markings from a traditional rite in Africa.  

          Crear told BBC news that he was born in the same house that Matilda died in. He claims that his family knew that Matilda was Africa but nothing more. 





                                                     This is a picture of Johnny Crear(left) and Matilda McCrear(right).



                                                                   This is a picture of the transatlantic slave trade.




Comments

  1. DanielleMarch 30, 2020 at 8:07 AM

    Wow, so interesting!

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousMarch 30, 2020 at 4:31 PM

    That's crazy. I guess history can always change.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousMarch 31, 2020 at 9:39 AM

    Very interesting topic. Nice job!

    ReplyDelete

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