The Red River Sankofa Project

The Natives

admin — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 02:38:54 +0000

Highway 71 seems like the root that connects the various ancestral paths that bind us together but it wasn’t always Highway 71 like Belcher wasn’t always Horseshoe. At one point highway 71 was a dirt path and Belcher was once home to Native Americans, planters, slaveowners, slaveholders, & slaves migrating west from VA, SC, GA & AL. Slavery was eventually abolished, freedman emerged, reconstruction came & left, Jim Crow set up camp, the African American migration out of the area increased, Jim Crow downsized, civil rights floated around and thus we are here 150 years later still putting the logistics to the puzzle together. My branch for the most part began migrating out of this area around the mid 1930′s. It was pretty simple. They wanted a different life from their parents & grandparents. They wanted job opportunities and there were few and far between along this leg of the Red River. At least none that they actually desired. My branched went to the military, went to school, became clergy, found employment on the railroad, and/or found employment in larger cities where the demand for steel/iron workers become plentiful because of the war. Evacuating the south in light of Mr. Crow seemed like the right thing to do. Oh but not everyone got on the bandwagon and many actually remained in their respective villages. If their ancestors endured slavery, they thought ‘surely we can endure this’. These fellow men & woman stayed and some did quite well. Living on the family land and working for themselves as oppose to sharecropping (slavery 2.0) made perfect sense. So what was life like for our previous Belchernites, Gilliamnites, Dixienites, Hosstonites, Vivianites, Rodessanites, & Miranites?

Before Belcher there was Horseshoe…

admin — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 00:30:36 +0000

Situated at 32°45’02N latitude and 93°50’02W longitude, 30 minutes west of the Texas border, this little village with a current population of 262 villagers was an important launching pad for many of our shared, early ancestors. Located in the bow of Horseshoe bayou, the town was originally named Horseshoe and finally renamed, Belcher, after James Clinton Belcher, a former confederate soilder and overseer of Wild Lucia plantation, in 1899. This little village, filled with a few plantations, churches, and cotton gins, began growing, particulary after T. & P. Railroad made its way through it in 1900.

Talking recently with some former sons and daughters of Belcher, this sleepy village appeared to be a booming spot for those lucky enough to be related to the Bradford clans after oil leases began popping up as early as 1915. While some shared
in great prosperity, others did not. Those looking for a better life joined the mass migration of African Americans out of the rural south. Avoiding Jim Crow in search of greener pastures seemed like a logical decision but what happened to those who couldn’t leave..those who stayed behind for other reasons?

In the absence of birth certificates and death certificates, a gravestone is often the only evidence that someone existed. These poles represent gravemarkers located in St. Paul’s & Ebenezar churches and one can assume these are individuals who lived and died in Belcher. The poles are the only documentation.

To be continued…
�
ELH

Something new

admin — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 23:49:54 +0000

After 6 years of being online, I decided the website was well overdue for a makeover. The site as you know it is off the grid while the data gets reformatted making it much more user friendly. In the meantime, please indulge me as I muse on about people, places and things related to the NW Louisiana, African American diaspora.

Erica