This weekend, the Brattonsville Historic District, home to a former plantation in York County, South Carolina, will hold its By the Sweat of Our Brows event.
This annual celebration honors those enslaved on the plantation with reenactments of the lives they led and the hardships they endured. As in past years, the celebration will include the calling of the names of Brattonsville's enslaved people taken from historical records.
And this year, for the first time, African American descendants will be joined by the descendants of the white plantation owners. Dr. Lisa Bratton, an associate professor of history at Tuskegee University, talks about this year's upcoming celebration and her connection to Brattonsville.
Lisa Bratton: My great-great grandparents, Green and Melinda Bratton were enslaved on the plantation. I've known about Brownsville since I was a child. My father would take us there from Vallejo, California, where we're from. And in January 2022, I started a series of conversations with the white descendants. I just wanted to talk to them, to get to know them and talk about our shared history. I didn't have a lot of — I didn't have any goals. I just wanted to talk. But in April, I went to visit one of the white descendants and we checked into our DNA and come to find out when she pulled up her DNA, there I was. And after I kind of recovered from that shock, we really began to have more intense conversations, because now we've learned that the reality is that some of the white Brattons enslaved their own child or children.
Gwendolyn Glenn: And that was the case since in so many — I mean, they weren't looked at as their children. They were looked at as property.
Bratton: Exactly. I mean, exactly. But when it's your family, it becomes very personal.
Glenn: Yeah. Yeah. Well, for people who have never been to Brattonsville, describe what it looks like.
Bratton: There is what we call the Homestead House, which is the house that Colonel William Bratton built. He moved to Brattonsville and dislocated the Indigenous people who were there and built the homestead in the 1700s. His son, Dr. John Simpson Bratton, built a house across the street, and that's what we kind of call the big house. There are also cabins. There is a kitchen which is off of the home. At Brattonsville, they also do historic farming. And what that means is they only use tools that were available in 1850. So, it's the only working plantation in the state of South Carolina. Even the fencing, the fences are built just as they would have been built in 1850 with the tools that were available.
Glenn: Well, this year, I'm sure there are people who are listening who have gone to these events in the past. Tell us what's new this year.
Bratton: This year is the first time that the African American and white descendants have met. Saturday at noon, I will be hosting a conversation with the African American and white descendants. I've met a few, but no one else has met any of their relatives from the other side. And so we are really excited about the conversation, being together, meeting for the first time face-to-face, and allowing the public to share in our conversation and learn more about our legacy.
Glenn: Whose idea was it to include the whites this year and how was that received by other descendants?
Bratton: It was my idea to include them and it was very well received. When I tell my friends about this new knowledge, everyone asks, "Well, how did the white people respond?" We have embraced each other. They want to do this. They want to meet us. We want to meet them. And so one group may not like what the other group has done. And I've been asked several times, "are you bitter?" No, I'm not bitter about it because I can see what my family started out with, a legacy of enslavement and what we have become since then.
Glenn: And I ask you that question because I know of a lot of African American families that when this question has come up about those who have Europeans in their DNA and — it's been a heated discussion at times. I've had friends who have said, "well, they knew about us, they knew where we were. They never reached out to us or —" and I've had others who have said, "well, they were kidnappers, they were rapists. Why would I want any connection?" And it's been a touchy, sensitive topic for a lot of families. That's why I asked you how was this received.
Bratton: It really is a touchy situation. I don't want to paint the picture that it's been kumbaya and perfect and everybody is now in love. But the relationship is a very positive one. Now, the history, we're still grappling with that. And I will probably be the rest of my life grappling with that. But the relationship with the current descendants is actually very positive.
Glenn: Now you have exhibits, I understand. Tell me about the new exhibits that will be going on as well.
Bratton: During Reconstruction, historic Brattonsville was very central to the community. So in that exhibit is a topic that Brattonsville 20 years ago didn't talk about, and that is the lynching of Jim Williams, who was a leader of one of the black militias, and he was lynched in 1871. So there is a very extensive and really, honestly, a well-done exhibit about the lynching of Jim Williams and other aspects of Reconstruction. We'll have an area where individuals and visitors will be able to meet the descendants. There are some games because — now, enslavement was not a positive at all, but sometimes enslaved people had to create fun where they could find it. And so I complain every year that I can't get around to all of the events.
Glenn: Okay. Well, sounds like it's going to be a great event. Thank you so much for talking with us today.
Bratton: Thank you. It's been my honor and I appreciate this opportunity.
