Daughter Dialogues

Featuring the legendary Black women central to the history of African American members of the Daughters of the American Revolution, the history of the Forgotten Patriots and Daughters of Color Luncheon, and the short film created in that room for America’s 250th anniversary, produced by Memoirize. Create your own story project at Memoirize.com- a storytelling studio for people, families, and organ...

Announcing the end of season two, Daughter Dialogues will return on Thursdays in September (postponed until February 2022).  This episode includes observations in review of season two, listener comments, podcast statistics, announcements of live virtual events to interact with the Daughters, and a season three preview.  Hear the status of breaking the series into seasons and pace of the research p...

Yolanda discusses her Croatan Native American Revolutionary War patriot Ephraim Manuel, son of 7th great grandfather Nicholas Manuel who was enslaved with his wife Bungey, both being of African descent in Elizabeth City County, Virginia; Nicholas migrating to Croatan territory in Samson County, North Carolina after he was freed from slavery in 1718; the Daughters of the American Revolution listing...

Carol talks about descending from Quock Martrick, born in 1756 Ghana, Africa, who served with George Washington in the American Revolution and was with Benedict Arnold when he left his post; spending three years searching for Quock’s slave master, assuming he had one as always taught in school about blacks in America, but never finding one; going before a council of Ga-Adangbe tribal elders for pe...

Dawn discusses surviving multiple traumatic brain conditions; being called both a honkey and the “N-word” as a Creole mixed race child growing up in California; being a Georgetown University 272 slave descendant; and descending from Marie Therese Coin Coin, a slave owner of African descent who was herself formerly enslaved, seeming like cannibalism, the love match of her Frenchman Revolutionary Wa...

True talks about her family legacy of four generations of firstborns, with her being the first woman, serving in the U.S. Armed Forces; joining the U.S. Army despite her “mom” (grandmother) and birth father feeling that women should not be in the military but with the support of her "dad" (grandfather), the ultimate decision maker; becoming a food service specialist like her birth father...

Marcia talks about how the Clotilda, the last ship that transported slaves after their trade from Africa was abolished, carried the captives who bought land to create Africatown in Alabama, where her father lived; disheartened learning her ancestors did not come from the Clotilda; her pipe smoking maternal great grandmother, Deland, chopping off a white man's foot after being called a name wh...

Karen talks about great aunt Bernice Gaines Hughes, the first black female Lt. Colonel in the U.S. Armed Forces, serving in the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion in England and France WWII, aviation cadet; maternal 2nd great grandmother arriving in Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1862 as a fugitive slave, a nurse in the Battle of Glorieta Pass, casting her first vote in 1929, fluent in Spanish and...

Gabrielle shares how towering over her family at 6’2”, she struggled to overcome nervousness about joining the Daughters of the American Revolution in which she discovered new-found black and white relatives who were members that share descendancy from her Acadian Revolutionary War patriot Pierre Richard whose descendant Telismar Richard, a Frenchman from Arnaudville, Louisiana, had a son Joseph R...

Nicka Sewell-Smith discusses attaining her Cherokee Nation citizenship; being a descendant of Cherokee Old Settler Chief John Rogers Jr., who by force, reproduced with her 4th great grandmother Annie May, of African descent and enslaved by another Cherokee, resulting in their daughter Martha May who became a teacher; Martha’s son, Isaac Rogers, enlisting in the 1st Kansas U.S. Colored Troops, work...

Pazetta shares oral history about growing up in Boyce, Louisiana on a former plantation, living in the caretaker’s home with slave cabins on the property; her Choctaw Indian great grandmother Milly being traded by an Indian chief, possibly her father, for a horse as a child; her great grandfather, Revolutionary War patriot descendant Captain Henry Newton Berryman, and his first wife, Helena, a whi...

Leslie talks about Theodosia, who ran off with cousin and Leslie’s Revolutionary War patriot, William Dula (Dooley) of Irish descent, leaving her first husband, Revolutionary War patriot John Patrick McMullan, and their children without divorcing; the McMullan family being told that Theodosia died; learning her long-time white friend and colleague descended from McMullan and they are both Theodosi...

Karen discusses being admitted to the DAR in 1977 as the first known black member by defying resistance within the society; inquiring about admission to the DAR by writing local chapters, upon the suggestion of archivist and friend Margaret Ward; not knowing if there were other black members, reaching out to two Detroit, Michigan chapters, sharing that she was black, but never hearing back; being...

Karen talks about discovering her white Revolutionary War patriot William Hood, who earned her place as the first black woman to be admitted to the DAR; her white maternal great grandmother Jennie Daisy Hood marrying black Prince Albert Weaver, in 1889 Ohio; Jennie’s mother not allowing her to bring her children with her to visit because they were showing their colored heritage; her paternal ances...

Karen shares stories about how her childhood shaped her into a pioneer having the courage and resilience to defeat opposition she faced when applying to become the first black member of the DAR; her parents being fervent civil rights activists and requiring her to ride a bus one and a half hours each way to integrate a school "because somebody has to", describing it as the “worst year of...

Starting off Black History Month with the first black member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Karen Batchelor, Daughter Dialogues returns for season two on the first Thursday of February! Learn what to expect to hear from Karen and from other black members of the DAR who descend from men and women who fought for the independence of the United States of America. New episodes are release...

Announcing the end of season one, Daughter Dialogues will return on the 1st Thursday of February at the start of Black History Month. This episode includes observations in review of season one, listener comments and shout outs to social media followers, podcast statistics, announcements of live virtual events to interact with the Daughters and the official acceptance of Daughter Dialogues for depo...

Charlotte shares stories about her white great-great-great-grandmother who had a child with a black man and descended from Revolutionary War patriot William Lindsey Durham whose grandson is the namesake of the city in North Carolina; and her Welsh ancestry, descending from free people of color of Chatham County, North Carolina who trace back to patriarch Moses Myrick of Wales. She talks about grow...

Bianca talks about leading schools in the Middle East; and her Creole culture in which cousins intermarried to remain fair complexioned and preserve their culture, her grandmother deciding to passe blanc (pass for white), being adamant about not being African, and being shunned by her family because she had less European features than her siblings and associated with blacks; and her family's...

Sharri talks about her family’s effect on Abraham Lincoln’s assassin during an intertwined story concerning the Fugitive Slave Act, negotiated by her maternal relative U.S. Senator Henry Clay, inciting the Christiana Riot in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania where her paternal ancestors were protecting fugitive slaves; Frederick Douglass assisting her ancestors to reach the Elgin Settlement in Canada...

Stephani talks about how her Revolutionary War patriot James Due was not Scottish but instead a black man living with a white woman; and proving that her ancestor Vilmont Schexnayder was born to Norbert, a white man who had a child with a slave, which Norbert’s descendants denied. She discusses growing up in San Jose, California; working as a pediatric home care nurse in Sacramento, CA; opening a...

Shelley tells about her journey from surviving as a high school drop-out, victim of domestic abuse, and a young single mother to earning her doctorate and becoming a University of Virginia researcher, investigating president Thomas Jefferson’s beloved university and the enslaved laborers who built it. She talks about growing up in Grand Rapids, Michigan; her fervent love of the military and droppi...

Author of the biography that inspired Self Made , the Netflix series about her great-great-grandmother Madam C. J. Walker, an entrepreneur, philanthropist, activist and hair care industry pioneer, A’Lelia Bundles talks about her direct lineal descent from two Revolutionary War patriots through her biological grandmother Fairy Mae Bryant who was adopted by A’Lelia (nee McWilliams) Walker, the only...

Holly discusses raising three Uniquely Special children on the Autism Spectrum, each with accompanying health challenges, after leaving her position as a gubernatorial appointee working as the Deputy Director of Communications for BWI Airport and subsequently being selected to be the Director of Communications for the Maryland Transit Administration.  She tells her story of flying to Munich, Germa...

Adrienne talks about how she discovered that the black man listed as the father on her grandfather's birth certificate was a lie but instead was a white man named James Moffett from 1924 segregated Mississippi; working through generational shame, anger and pain about her slave owning white ancestry; her grandfather's connection to Revolutionary War patriots; the story of how the family o...