The past few weeks have got me thinking about ways to expand public awareness of slavery. One way can be to highlight how the history of slavery touches a wide variety of locations throughout the U.S., especially where not immediately obvious. #twitterstorians #publichistory 1/?

To show how this can be done, I'll take the example of Kolomoki Mounds State Park in Georgia, the site of Native American mounds dating from 350-600 C.E. 2/? https://gastateparks.org/KolomokiMounds 

I've visited Kolomoki on many occasions, as my local church group held summer camps there. For me, however, the site bears a more personal significance as it is also the former home of my 4x-great-grandfather and his family. Here I am in front of their graves. 3/?

Despite my grandmother having done extensive genealogical research for 15+ years, it was only a few months ago that I found out that my ancestor enslaved persons at the site of the state park. 4/?

The 1850 slave schedule lists my 4x-great-grandfather G.W. Mercier as enslaving twenty-eight persons. The 1860 slave schedule lists forty-seven enslaved persons. 5/x

Again, I did not know any of this until a few months ago. I highly doubt anyone at @GaStateParks knows this either, because it was never mentioned anywhere in the park AFAIK. I haven't visited for a number of years, so they may do so now. 6/x

Oh, and one more thing, just FYI: while it's unproven, it is possible that my ancestors are buried on top of one of the Native American mounds. 7/x

This is just an example, but I am sure there are other places like Kolomoki where the history of slavery has gone unnoticed and untold. 8/x

I'm sharing this not only because it's a part of my family history but because I think people should know that slavery intersects with so many facets of U.S. history. 9/x

I personally think Kolomoki is a compelling example because of the intersectionality it reveals: Native American, white settlers, and enslavement of African Americans all in one place. 10/x

I am sure there are similar examples elsewhere, and we need to do a better job of recognizing them. If you have stories about similar places, I'd love to hear them, and I'm sure others would as well.

(end thread) 11/11