If Healing is to Happen, We Can’t Let the Sore Fester: an interview with Beverly Bevel

BitterSweet talked with CTTT member Beverly Bevel about her experiences researching her enslaved and enslaver ancestors. In 2019, Beverly founded “The Lewellen Project,” a non-profit organization with the mission to provide leadership, resources, and a supportive environment for all who wish to facilitate racial reconciliation. She and other Lewellen descendants are also working to rescue the Lewellen property in Holly Springs, MS. Built in 1854 but gutted by fire in 2019, the former slave quarters behind the house remain intact.

What are your biggest challenges, concerns, or fears when navigating the terrain of the enslaver/enslaved landscape?

When I began researching my father’s slaveholder DNA connections, many white contacts were angry that I reached out to them. I had the audacity to bring up that dark part of history. Their attitude was: since my family didn’t tell me about slavery then how could it possibly be true.

Initially, I didn’t see it as racism but rather shame and ignorance. Then, they began blocking me from access or family tree information. As I became more experienced with family research, it became apparent I did not need to forge a relationship with them to gather the truth about my African enslaved history and the role their ancestors played in history.

Eventually, the family’s genealogist acquired enough validated data about our Fulcher/Dennis heritage that we qualified for Daughters/Sons of the American Revolution. And yes, their slaveholder ancestor made it all possible by involving his mulatto son with the American Revolution.

On my maternal side, the Lewellen slaveholders were extremely proud of their Confederate heritage. I had to be willing to wade through the cesspool of Confederate flags, stories about relatives who were nice slaveholders, conversations about how their grandfather let “coloreds” come in the front door, having a “colored mammy”, or testimonies about never using the “N” word. 

I personally conducted a risk/reward analysis of these cesspool conversations, and decided that obtaining the enslaved family history was worth the risk, and that it was my role to navigate through it, and to psychologically and physiologically prepare myself for the battle. Almost like an astronaut, suit up and be willing to go out and explore territories unknown. Managing my emotions and having empathy for those white people who have varying amounts of candor, sensitivity, self-awareness and a grip on the true history of this country. Their own ignorance had nothing to do with my rights or quest to uncover my once enslaved family’s history in this country. I had a mission. Simple as that.

I want to be clear that resistance also comes from my own community. I can remember the days prior to being Black and Proud. I remember the days of negative profiling of “Colored” or “Negro” slapstick actors like Amos & Andy. One may disagree with me but I believe we, Black, may still carry some trauma or shame of post-slavery marketing.

Some of my own relatives have advised me to “let sleeping dogs lie” or inquire why I would want to “disturb the dead” or “dredge up all that old stuff.”

My hope is that rather than blame a descendant of the enslaved or slaveholder, we can all begin to realize that if healing is to happen, we can’t let the sore fester. Examine our shared history, don’t be a victim, and move toward understanding and sharing the truth. History can be ugly sometimes. Truth is that this chapter in American history is full of scars. The sooner we deal with and accept the truth, the sooner we begin to heal.

How has White Guilt impacted your work and discoveries?

It’s the same thing, the guilt, hatred, anger, denial, all from the same source. All fundamentally paralyzing. 

Some people want to stay paralyzed so they will never have to be accountable for the truth. I believe in some cases, they are looking for an excuse to feel guilty or non-actionable. Some people make the discovery and become motivated to help or become an ally. They realize they cannot change the past, but may have precious documents to assist millions of African Americans find their way home.

We all feel bad about slavery and its continued stench in America. I’ve always believed that the best way to deal with your own anger or guilt is to help someone else. To be of service to someone else. Make a difference. Be proud, not guilty, that you helped someone else. 

Nobody learns through guilt, fear, anger and chastising. If anything, white guilt should be more about white anger or rage that the history curriculum in his country has not been the truth. That it has been “white washed” so that a group of people have been deprived of reality.

It’s a form of white blindness (lies) so that a particular group is comfortable. White America should be angry, not necessarily guilty. Be angry enough to demand our country legislates the truth and changes the history books to reflect the truth.

I have been thinking about how white American females have been so protected. The white southern plantation culture, fragile as a flower. It didn’t benefit anyone in the 1860s, and it’s not benefiting anyone now. 

The white Lewellens already know me as a cousin, we have stories published about our connection. And yet, I was looking through their Ancestry.com, and not a single one has listed a slave schedule. They will not post a slave schedule, even though so many know me and know our shared history. I went through 30-40 different trees on the white Lewellen side, and they still don’t get it. They still want to recreate this false history and be comfortable with it. Even after meeting me, there is some denial there. White people just have to get over it. Emily Dickinson said, “tell all the truth, but tell it slant.”  We have to stop doing that. Either come out and tell the whole truth or don’t talk about it at all. White people, if you have any kind of social consciousness, there is an obligation to share if you can, just that act helps the healing process.

I feel badly that whites feel accountable for their ancestors and whether or not they were good people. The truth of the matter is that descendants of enslaved people need white allies who will push through the guilt, trauma, obstacles and help us find our truth and history.

What role/expectations do you have for whites and other enslaver descendants?

I didn’t think I’d be dependent upon white people to do my family history, but that’s before I tried digging into the documents. I found, just like a lot of things in our society, the documents I need are in control of and held by white people. I can’t find out about my 3x great-grandmother or grandfather, without relying on some white person’s document, whether it’s the courts that are white, the slave schedule, the census, the family diary. Black people are dependent, somebody told me this ten years ago, but I didn’t believe them at the time. I do now.

Also, if you don’t want to be part of what your ancestors created, then there is a responsibility to share what you have. Allow someone to use it rather than throwing it away, share it when asked to share. I don’t expect every white person to become generous and share and figure it all out for us, it would be nice, but recognize how much of a historical need there is in the community for these documents. 

How have things shifted for you since you started researching your Black and white ancestors?

In my professional life, I’ve always been the only Black person in my chosen career so I learned and adapted to the white community. When it comes to my ancestral and historical work, I’ve learned that white people are just as ill-informed as anybody else. To be successful in this work you have to build relationships and trust, hold confidences, and be 100 percent honest. Honest to yourself and to others.

Another key shift when doing this work is SELF-CARE. This work is physically and psychologically depleting. There is a limit to the amount of demeaning, horrible, humiliating stories or census data the mind and body can take. 

When I need to cry or mourn, I do so.
When I need to celebrate an ancestor, I do so.
When some record has angered me, I get angry but don’t allow it to consume me.
When I am overwhelmed, I walk away for a given amount of time…but most importantly, Dance, Dance, Dance brings me joy and the ability to connect with my ancestors.
It really doesn’t matter how you re-energize your soul, dance is my release. I also invite my ancestors to dance with me. Our spiritual connection…DANCE and music are my self care methods. I get on the ground sometimes. The way I grieve for my ancestors’ existence, the way I dance and celebrate that they are still guiding us and they have a powerful message that they need to be heard, whether they come through me or anyone.

I consciously make the decision to do things that bring me joy. There has to be a counterbalance to all of this. I’ve always been a dancer. Dancing is my self-care language. Any kind, but I’ve been especially invested in African dance these past five years. Something about the drumming, something about the physical movements that came from our ancestors, helps me magnify and release what needs to be released. That and music, that’s my self-care. I absolutely know beyond a shadow of a doubt that my ancestors are proud and joyful about what I am bringing. 

One of my cousins, a state senator, he looked at me one day and said “I didn’t know we had a story.”  This is an educated man who is a state senator, to now think of his family having a story, that’s self-care and joy for me, that’s how I take care of me.

What’s an example of your connection to your ancestors, of them guiding you?

For nearly forty years, I’ve collected authentic African tribal art. I’ve learned that not every purchased piece belonged with me or on my walls.

I believe those same ancestors during slavery are stimulated by our quest to know them and that they often guide our research. Over 400 years in a foreign country, stolen from their homeland and families, packed like sardines and forced into servitude.

I believe and have experienced my ancestors guidance, direction, correction and joy for telling their stories. 

Initially, I wasn’t certain I should share my “unusual” spiritual experiences and finally I asked another genealogist whether they experienced visitors. She laughed at me and began telling me stories about her dead ancestor who sat around the kitchen table helping her with the research. At least I knew I wasn’t the only one who had company during research.

Now, I am grateful and sometimes entertained when they come to help guide us.

Recently, I had been researching the enslaved Lewellens who accompanied their masters during the Civil War. They were enslaved servants mustered into the Confederacy. My research was taking me in a direction I did not want to pursue. I felt it was another potential rabbit hole. I even told this pushy ancestor to depart because I was not going to research that particular direction. He wanted me to research Captain George Washington Lewellen, a slaveholder and celebrated Civil War hero.

I absolutely refused to focus on Captain Lewellen and decided to retire for the night. My enslaved ancestor, Lewis Lewellen, pestered me for more than three hours. I tossed and turned. He  would not let me rest. Reluctantly, I screamed out, “okay, fine!” I stormed downstairs, logged onto Ancestry.com to research Captain George Washington Lewellen.  As soon as I clicked on his name, a military document from Fold3 appeared.

This priceless document about Captain George Washington Lewellen listed his Lewellen slaves who accompanied him to war, it provided information on their positions, it provided information on their Confederate pension files and most importantly, it displayed a Freedman’s document that identified a labor contract between the Captain and his newly freed slaves. Yes, names, names of wives and children. Slaves who were now free and ancestors of mine!

Lesson learned for me. When my ancestors speak, I listen. 

 

Beverly Fulcher Bevel is a native of Southern California. Uncovering enslaved family members and bringing their stories to life has been her focus for the past eleven years. With DNA technology, she encourages African Americans to research and reach out to descendants of enslavers and enslaved. Beverly holds a bachelor’s degree in Linguistics from California State University at Long Beach, where she minored in Black Studies. She received her Human Resources Certificates from the University of Irvine, California and specializes in helping organizations achieve excellence. As a retired Fortune 100 Human Resources Manager, her experience with Leadership Development, Organizational Development, Internal Consulting, and Training has been the catalyst for IHG Consulting: A full-service Human Resources Consulting Firm.

Here is the syllabus for Beverly and her Lewellen linked descendant cousin Rhonda Roederer’s 2021 Roots Tech presentation Once Enslaved, Once Slaveholder – Forging a Forever Family Bond.

Here is an article with more information about the Lewellen House in Holly Springs and the intact slave quarters.

Please scroll down to leave a comment or question for Beverly.

 

©2022, Beverly Fulcher Bevel and BitterSweet, Linked Through Slavery. All rights reserved.