Sunday afternoon around 1:15 PM Central Time, I find myself driving through a late winter snowstorm on I-80 in Nebraska. The road is covered in snow, and something about this moment has brought the Willie and Martin handcart companies vividly to my mind.
In early 1853, one year after their marriage, Luke and Christiana set sail from England; however, rather than sailing west across the Atlantic with the other Saints going to Utah, Luke and Christiana sailed south around Africa bound for Australia. It appears, that Luke and Christiana had decided they would conceal Christiana's African heritage, and they apparently decided to sail the long way around the world to Utah rather than travel in the company of any English members of the Church who might know Christiana's true heritage.
Calabar was the slave port through which the largest number of all African slaves were shipped. . . .Our FAMILY passed through that same spot where I was so revolted last night. . . .Unfortunately, what until last night was a beautiful place has now become something to despise.
As we entered the museum, I had a sudden revulsion, as it dawned on me that this was likely the port from which the slaves from Kanuri land would have been shipped. . . .Tonight, for the first time, I felt a gulf between me and the Africans. The gulf was simply that we were looking at the same exhibits but our experiences were from opposite ends: my family left as slaves while theirs stayed behind.
I have finally made it to Maiduguri, Borno State, which is the main city in Kanuri-land here in northeast Nigeria. This is the area to which we likely trace through Christiana's line. I am rather at a loss of words to describe Maiduguri or what it means to be here.
In my case, the mitochondrial DNA test revealed a match with the DNA samples taken from the Kanuri tribe of northern Nigeria. This DNA marker is a maternal marker, and it is passed from mother to daughter. This means that somewhere back on my direct matrilineal lineage, I have an African (Kanuri) grandmother and a European grandfather.
I was born in the last year of the Baby Boom into an essentially all-white, all-Mormon, farming community in Southern Utah. My progenitors migrated to Southern Utah and Nevada from various European countries in the mid-1800s after joining the Mormon church. They came seeking eternal salvation and to establish a Zion society on earth.
Six decades later, I am no longer Mormon, no longer white . . .
I was born in the last year of the Baby Boom into an essentially all-white, all-Mormon community in Southern Utah. Six decades later, I am no longer Mormon, no longer white, and finally ready to share my story. The map is not yet complete, and new pathways beckon. Shall we see where they lead?
If these words resonate in your own journey, I'd love to know which passages lingered with you. Let's continue the dialogue.