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Archiver > FREEMAN > 2000-05 > 0959428199


From: "Sue Dinkel" <>
Subject: Re: [FREEMAN-L] Racial heritage
Date: Sat, 27 May 2000 05:49:59 -0600


Been quiet while watching the exchange regarding racial heritage.
I'm white...and researching a Freeman line out of New Jersey....and take
no offense at all at the question regarding the distinction of racial
heritage...regardless of which race...
Coming from a long line of folks who made the march through the
colonies, on to Pennsylvania, Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, etc.,
etc. -- with both slave-holding and non-slave holding x# great grandparents
in the mix - I am also not foolish enough to believe that a great grandpa
somewhere up that line, be it in this country or the one from which he
immigrated ... was so pristine as to negate the theory that I may have
relatives (out there somewhere) who may be of mixed racial heritage.
Of more recent note...while attempting to track down relatives still
living in Ohio (descendants of brothers of my great grandfather)....and
armed with the telephone book (with numerous Freeman listings) from the city
of interest...I was met more often with the question "Are you looking for
black Freemans or white Freemans." Since the question was regarding
individuals from the 1860-1910 time frame....the question was more helpful
that hurtful or offensive. The people I was talking to were of an age that
they either knew or knew of their grandparents. Carl may have had a brother
John...but if grandson Earl was black...that eliminated him as a member of
the family I was looking for...and so on.
The thinking seems to be focused on black and white....what about
Indian. Those generations of folks past who tracked through the south (and
other areas as well...New York, for example) who intermarried into the
Native American population...do we stop to ask if a particular
ancestor/ancestress was Indian. Yet, there are a lot of descendants of this
type of inter-racial marriage ... and, in some regards it's harder to track
down that heritage/ancestry, for a number of reasons, not the least of which
is the fact that through a certain time frame some simply chose to "hide"
the fact that they were Indian. This situation presents itself in the
Freeman family as well.
-----Original Message-----
From: Stephen Cooper <>
To: <>
Date: Friday, May 26, 2000 9:17 PM
Subject: Re: [FREEMAN-L] Racial heritage


>If you go back several generations it may be hard to tell which FREEMAN
>(white or black) you are looking for. I know I don't know about some of my
>families. I just figure they be white.
>
>Steve Cooper
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: <>
>To: <>
>Date: Thursday, May 25, 2000 8:28 PM
>Subject: [FREEMAN-L] Racial heritage
>
>
>>I hope I can ask this question without offending anyone on the list.
>>How is one to tell if the Freemans people are looking for are white
>>Freemans or black Freemans?
>>I know that there are a lot of both out there and it is almost impossible
>>to tell the difference just by the names.
>>
>>Victoria Freeman
>>
>>Are there any Freemans out there that are living in NJ currently?
>>

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