Shelley Murphy: From survivor to Jefferson’s enslaved laborers researcher.

10/01/20 • 90 min

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 dropping out of high school out of anger since she was not allowed to graduate early to join the Army; living on her own since the age of 16; completing her bachelor's degree after 28 years; earning a master's and doctorate while working full time; her children’s father being killed by his nephew over a drug deal; leaving a violent relationship; the stressors that living with a mother-in-law afflicted with Alzheimer’s had on her later marriage; being forced to identify as either black or white when living in the South after not having color lines in Michigan and Hawai’i; the shock of learning about her slave ancestry and mixed race heritage; realizing her family makeup reflects American history; the emotional impact of researching Thomas Jefferson's enslaved laborers; her Ancestor Calvin Davis, a radio gunner passing for white, who was killed in a WWII plane crash during a 1941 bombing run in Meresburg, Germany; her black ancestor who owned slaves- James Roper, the son of a slave and Nicholas Roper who left everything to his mulatto son including slaves; half of James's kids deciding to pass for white and their descendants’ reaction when they learn of their black ancestry; mission to find great grandfather William Michael Murphy; Revolutionary War patriot John Boyer and meeting white descendants; ten years ago, thinking DAR was a whites only organization and not knowing about black patriots and members; working on getting seven additional patriots approved by DAR; joining the DAR and serving as chair membership chapter; “my folks helped lay the foundation of this country”, “we’ve served”, “we have to tell these stories”. Read Shelley’s biography at www.daughterdialogues.com/daughters
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A’Lelia Bundles: Madam C.J. Walker and a Family Legacy of Pioneers

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 daughter of Sarah Breedlove (Madam C. J. Walker), and became known as Mae Walker. A’Lelia shares stories about how her ancestors, who descended from American Revolution soldier Ishmael Roberts, were pioneers that migrated from North Carolina to Indiana and created free people of color settlements in the early 1800s; and her connection to Revolutionary War patriot Thomas Archer. She discusses her family’s multi-generational use of the name "A'Lelia"; her great grandmother A'Lelia Walker; growing up in a new black suburb of Indianapolis and attending predominantly white schools; her mother (A’Lelia Mae Perry Bundles) attending Howard University and taking the position of vice president of the Madam C. J. Walker Manufacturing Company, continuing the legacy of producing cosmetics and hair care products for black women; her father’s success as the president of Summit Laboratories hair care company; the family’s expectation for her to have her own identity and accomplishments; her experience as a student attending Radcliffe College and graduating from Harvard; losing her mother while studying journalism as a graduate student at Columbia University; the journey to writing about Madam C.J. Walker; experience working as a black woman in the newsroom in the 1970s and highlights from her career at NBC covering the Atlanta child murders and Jesse Jackson, working at ABC on World News Tonight with Peter Jennings, and then as deputy bureau chief in Washington, DC; her independence working as a speaker and author; making one her first speeches at her grandmother Mae’s alma mater, Spelman College, armed with personal advice from Roots author Alex Haley; assuming board positions with the National Archives Foundation, Columbia University, and Radcliffe College; receiving an Emmy and the Gold Baton award; being recognized by the NY Times for On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C. J. Walker; her decades long relationship with her significant other; losing her father and both brothers within twelve weeks of each other; changing her impression of the Daughters of the American Revolution after learning of the society’s black members; joining the DAR despite having a complicated sense of patriotism; her expectation for America to move toward a more perfect union; and defining "Real Americans" to include people of African descent. Read A’Lelia's biography at www.daughterdialogues.com/daughters
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Stephani Miller: Life Coach. Exposing falsified and denied oral histories.

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 group adult residential home with her mother and family; running a Supported Living Coaches, Personal Supports, and Life Skills business; taking family trips with her mother, father, stepmother, and brother together; her interest in genealogy beginning with mother's stories about her third great grandfather Vilmont Schexnayder and a woman of German descent stating the name must mean Schex’s-"n-word"; how Vilmont was born a slave and was a US Colored Troops (USCT) soldier in Patterson, Louisiana; searching for Vilmont’s father; taking a tour of Laura Plantation that led to a chance encounter with guide Jay Schexnaydre who pointed her to Vilmont's father Norbert and later learning that Jay was a cousin through DNA testing; a white descendant of Norbert Schexnayder denying that he is the father of Vilmont; later taking a DNA test that revealed the descendent as her closest match; Vilmont's USCT widow's pension request explaining that she was partnered with Henry Alexander in Lafayette, Louisiana to produce children as a slave but married Vilmont in Patterson, Louisiana when she was freed; assuming her Revolutionary War patriot James Due, of Caroline County, Maryland, was white with a black or Native American partner since she only knew of white descendants of Enoch, James’s son, who were always told that James was Scottish; Enoch’s battle between identifying as mulatto or white, finally living as white and his sister Serena living as mulatto; Enoch's descendants having African DNA; being proud to know that her ancestors were here from the birth from United States; joining the DAR so that James Due could no longer be forgotten; no one knowing that James Due owned property in Maryland and is buried there in Tuckahoe State Park with no grave marker; feelings while having her DAR new member welcome ceremony in a country club which had previously excluded blacks and in 1920 hung July Perry in Ocoee, FL massacres, outside of the gates, because he wanted to vote; embracing the DAR sisterhood. Read Stephani’s biography at www.daughterdialogues.com/daughters
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