Remembering Women I Never Met

Five Generations and Rosemary, originally uploaded by Ninth Raven. These are my maternal ancestors, photographed in Oklahoma in the mid-1920s . The baby is my grandmother’s older sister, Hazel Fulmer. The woman holding her is her great-grandmother, Betsy Strickland. Clockwise from her is my great-grandmother, Mabel Fulmer; her mother, Betsy McWhorter-White; and Granny Gepford, Hazel’s [...]

Problematic Family History

“When We Talk to Our Dead, They Talk Back” ancestor altar, installed at the Torpedo Factory Art Center, Alexandria, VA, for “Dia de los Muertos: The Art of Remembrance” exhibition, 2011 How do we relate to problematic ancestors, family secrets, and past betrayals of faith and trust? Honoring the ancestors seems to imply that you [...]