Dear BitterSweet Readers and Writers:
We are pleased to announce the re-launch of BitterSweet: Linked Through Slavery, a blog hosted by the Linked Descendants Working Group and Coming to the Table (CTTT.) Linked descendants have a joint history in slavery–a pairing of a descendant of an enslaved person with a descendant of his or her enslaver, who are researching their shared history and hoping to find people they are linked to through slavery. Some linked descendants have found each other and are in communication, some are still searching.
BitterSweet highlights the stories told by the descendants of the enslaved and enslavers about family history, or a journey of discovery, or confronting the trauma suffered by an ancestor or the harm committed by one. We share personal stories about the nature of our fraught connections to slavery and racism in this country. Our intent is to look honestly at the hard stuff in order to build a pathway toward reconciliation.
We invite you to read our stories, share your thoughts, and submit your own. Please reach out to us to discuss. We welcome brief essays of up to 1000 words, as well as audio and video works. If you have read a book, seen a movie, or heard an interview that you found thought-provoking or insightful, write a short introduction to it and we will link to it. We hope to provide information, motivate your own research, provide a supportive environment for what can be a difficult journey, and stimulate thought.
You may also be interested in joining one of our writing pods.
We are immensely grateful to the “Original Storytellers” who launched and managed the blog, including Prinny Anderson, Felicia Furman, Roger Hardesty, Grant Hayter-Menzies, Sharon Morgan, Dionne Ford Kurttii, Ardis Ligon, Carol Maurer, Ann Neel, and Pam Smith.
We hope to “see” you all soon as readers, commenters, and writers!
Allison Thomas & Libby Floch
BitterSweet Co-Coordinators
