As I prepared for that day, my name, my heritage, my calling swirled around and through my head like the dust on a dry African road. Kenyatta. . . . Kenyatta Berry . . . .Jomo Kenyatta.
Could I be a beacon and light like the great Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya, Africa, my namesake? Would I be able to stand up for the rights of an entire population like Jomo did once? He faced the British parliament in 1931 regarding the atrocities taking place back home in Africa. I was only talking to a group of venture capitalists about a website. Nevertheless, it was still what I needed to do. The biggest difference was that my dream involved freeing the dead instead of the living.
My mother keeps reminding me to give my children names of meaning -- when I have children someday. It took me 27 years to realize the power of my name and the legacy I knew I must uphold, for around then I removed my "nerd" image and was able to grow into the woman I am today. As part of that growth, I realized the importance of being named after Jomo Kenyatta. But most importantly I recognized that my name instilled great significance and broader responsibility. I am grateful to my parents but I am even more grateful to Jomo for inspiring me to be a person with a dream. He was the first president of a nation. I just needed to find the stories of millions of lost Africans who lived as slaves in America before the 1870 census documented them. My goal, as a part-time genealogist and lawyer, was to make it easy to share these stories with families researching their past. Could I alone bring dignity and connection to generations of African Americans? No, I could not do it alone and neither did Jomo. He knew when to ask for help and so would I.
I want to live up to the power of Jomo Kenyata.
“Kenyatta does mean ‘Light of Kenya’ after all
and I have found a way to offer a light to many people.”
Would they see my passion? Would they understand what I wanted to achieve? I spent years studying African-American genealogy when the idea came to me that would change my life, my focus and even the coast I called home. I had to make them understand that someone needed to document the missing link of the early slaves in an online genealogical database that would be user friendly. It would be an incredibly valuable asset to individuals researching their past. I believed in it. Would they with their business plans and budget meetings believe too? Would they feel the past whisper in their ears and reach down to their heart or would they rush to the bottom line and ask about the income?
The idea first started when I was giving a lecture in Cambridge, Massachusetts on slave genealogy, a niche in research that fascinated me since law school -- especially with the challenges it presented from burnt courthouses to looking up slaveholders to find their slaves. A gentleman came up to me afterward and told me, “I have the emancipation papers of a slave in my family’s past. I don’t know what to do with them.”
I thought to myself, “Someone somewhere is probably researching this family and here are the papers. How can this be made public?”
From there an idea began forming in my head. I needed to collect these documents online making them user friendly allowing anyone access. I needed to convince a group of business people to invest and support me. I needed to move to Silicon Valley, CA. I knew that the life of an entrepreneur is a lonely one but by surrounding myself with others in the field, I could be encouraged and inspired. It worked and I am still learning what it takes day by day.
People get emotional when they look at the old documents I have come to love. While I have learned to separate myself from the process to do my job, they tear up when they see the value put on a human life. Slave mothers were listed cheaper than sons with strong backs, like horses in the field. It does affect me but I have to be strong for them or the stories will be buried and people will continue walk in the dark when answers are waiting for them. Call it the lawyer in me. I have to find the answers. Kenyatta does mean “Light of Kenya” after all and I have found a way to offer a light to many people.
Recently, apologies have been surfacing regarding lack of acceptance of African-Americans throughout history. The American Medical Association just apologized to potential physicians who were not allowed to participate for many years. Another moving example was the powerful story of the ancestor of a slave trading family in Rhode Island who felt the need to go back. The woman cried when she saw the exhibit of shackles that her ancient grandfathers used to enslave and hold many Africans. They were treated like animals to be sold. Now, their stories are hidden in the property documents of courthouses and private papers. To research a slave is to learn about the home in which they worked and the slaveholders themselves. These are the stories I seek.
This is our history, my history, waiting to be pieced together and publicized. I have no desire to own this process and yet more than not, I find myself alone with this passion. How many times did Jomo feel alone? Did he feel like no one else understood his quest and yet so many people were counting on him? People are counting on me to find them too. They wait in secret, lie under faded gravestones and the dust of disintegrated wooden planks, waiting for the beacon, the light of our work. It is not my work but the work of our country to pull this together. I cannot do it alone. I will need volunteers willing to collect the documents for reproduction.
1800s gravestone that reads "An Ex Slave Aged 98 Years"
In the tradition of Jomo Kenyatta, I will not be discouraged when people think my passion is touchy or want to dismiss me. The work is monumental but I am young. Other genealogists call me a “whipper snapper.” I have just begun.
Kenyatta Berry has over twelve years of genealogical experience, with a focus on African American and Virginian genealogy. With multiple articles and lectures to her name, Kenyatta continues to work as lawyer and executive in San Francisco, CA. She is CEO of Azani Media, LLC, a lifestyle management company and continues to grow online genealogical resources such as Discover Genealogy (founded in 2004) and Slavegenealogy.com (since 2005).
Thank you Kenyatta, for sharing your Story with us.
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© 2008 by Sarah Peppel and Story of My Life®