National Mall Liberty Fund

Page created by PaperPort's Microsoft FrontPage Editor Link: "Lena Santos Ferguson's battle over full membership in the Daughters of the American Revolution has ended successfully. At her urging, the DAR will take several unprecedented steps to help black women join the organization and assure that the role of blacks in the American Revolution is further explored and honored. She has said she wants to be a bridge for black women who may wish to become DAR members. Now that the path has been cleared for others, the question seems to be how many will follow.

The universe of potential black DAR applicants is not minute, as implied by the op-ed, Daughters of Revolution and Children of Slavery, which appeared in the Post on May 3, 1984. There may be thousands of potential black DAR members who are legitimate descendants of one of the 5,000 black slaves or free men who bore arms during the American Revolution or one of their white compatriot.

Lena and I share at least two white Revolutionary war ancestors, through her mother, my grandmother, the daughter of a white Maine sea captain and a black Virginia woman. They were married at the turn of the century and together raised my grandmother in the up-side-down life of New York Harbor. Great grandmother and great grandfather had a strong marriage, and together watched their daughter start a large family of her own with my grandfather, a Cape Verdean immigrant.
The first black member of the DAR is a descendant of a 19th century black-white marriage, and there are other examples that have been brought to Lena's and my attention by potential black DAR applicants in recent months. We are also aware of potential DAR applicants who are descendants of black revolutionary war patriots.

Blacks and whites together entered into legal interracial marriages before, during and after the..."