More than 150 years after the first United States census to include the names of African Americans, 14 descendants of enslaved people who are essential to the story of Emory’s history gathered on the Oxford College campus to learn more about genealogical research and how it can strengthen their connections with the lives of their ancestors.
The October meeting was the latest from Emory’s Twin Memorials project honoring the enslaved persons who were part of the university’s history. Descendants met with two genealogists; members of the Oxford College Library staff; and the Hood Design Studio, which shared the latest conceptual developments for the memorials that will be built on Emory’s Atlanta and Oxford campuses.
On a parallel track, Gabrielle Dudley — an archivist and interim co-director of Emory’s Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library — is leading a project to uncover the names of enslaved people whose labor had a direct or indirect impact on Emory in its early years of founding at the present-day Oxford campus.
That, she said, is necessary archival work, whether it takes place in the library or at someone’s kitchen table doing their own family history.
“From the Rose Library’s perspective, and from an archival perspective, it’s important for us to [share] the names of these individuals,” Dudley said. “I think it humanizes them and makes the story real. I think it helps us to understand the longer history of how we’ve gotten to this moment as Emory University.”
Planting family trees
Anderson Wright has been attending the Twin Memorials meetings since the process began in 2021. He was born and raised in Oxford, Georgia. In 2022, he shared his personal story as part of the Oxford/Covington Community Oral History Project for the Emory University Archives.
“It’s important for me [to be a part of this] because I’m representing my ancestors,” Wright said. “Most of my family worked at the college.”
Wright, though, is no stranger to genealogical research. With the starting point of ancestor Augustus Charles Wright, born in 1855, he’s been able to fill out hundreds of names on his family tree, including extended family. On his mother’s side, he can trace back to 1839.
Anderson Wright, who has filled out an extensive family tree of his own, said it is important to be a part of the Twin Memorials process because “I’m representing my ancestors.”
For those less accustomed to ancestry research, Ellen Neufeld, director of the Oxford College Library, said descendants could set up appointments with librarians, who could help them scan and preserve personal documents.
“The Oxford College Library is also your library,” Neufeld told the group.
Wright is president of the Oxford Historical Cemetery Society and has also helped others learn more about their forebears.
Part of the reason he is able to do that is because the Oxford Historical Cemetery — less than a mile from the Oxford College campus — is well-kept and the headstones are visible. This wasn’t always the case.
The cemetery, which was created in 1839, remained segregated until 1963.
In the fall of 1994, J.P. Godfrey Jr., a former Oxford City Council member, went to look for his parents’ graves. He found the segregated section of the cemetery reserved for African Americans unkept and overgrown with weeds, while the white section was neat and well maintained. Godfrey led a local campaign to clean up the cemetery and was recognized for his efforts at the opening ceremony of Emory’s 2002 King Week celebration. He remained connected with the university on finding ways to honor contributions of enslaved individuals until his death in 2020.
His widow, Mary Godfrey, has been a consistent voice in the Twin Memorials descendant meetings and was happy to learn more about genealogical research.
“I think it’s exceptionally important for African Americans in this town and Georgia in particular — and for our kids — to know something about their ancestors,” she said. “Not just the bad side. There was a bad side, and they need to know that, too. But I need [the kids] to know what honorable and hardworking people they were.”
Dudley hopes these efforts — both from the descendants and the eventual completion of the Twin Memorials — will lead to more research. The doors to Rose Library, she said, are always open.
“One thing I’ll say about genealogy and individual families doing work in the archives: I hope the Twin Memorials project will encourage more people to do this kind of investigation,” Dudley said. “It’s a really great opportunity for families that might be curious to now go into the archives, whether that’s here at Emory or somewhere local, to start to do this type of research. You just never know where those ties will lead them.”
On the horizon: Twin Memorials design concepts
On the importance of genealogy, Mary Godfrey said it is “exceptionally important for African Americans in this town and Georgia in particular — and for our kids — to know something about their ancestors.”
Since the showcase, the design team has been incorporating the feedback gathered from descendants and community members to develop a preliminary design concept.
After the genealogy portion of the meeting, Hood and his team shared design progress updates with the descendants.
“I’m very excited about it,” Godfrey said. “There isn’t a moment, especially here today, that I didn’t wish J.P. was sitting here to see this and see some honor given to people who deserve so much more. He’s shouting all over heaven right now.”
Photos by Kay Hinton, Emory Photo/Video