The First Nation of Africa

By Walker Norris

The world around us was in turmoil. We watched racial tensions grow with the untimely deaths of prominent leaders. From political to spiritual, the world was changing forever. There are many people in my family that I could dedicate this book to, but I want to honor my great-grandmother because she left an imprint on my life that time has not altered.

Mother Aikens took the time to make sure I learned the history of the African people. Every chance she got, she talked about her past and the lives African people were forced to endure. I believe this taught me to be compassionate not just toward black people but for justice.

To this day, I loathe injustice, and I pray this book will have the same legacy my great-grandmother left with me in that it will help us to have a better understanding of our history, will teach us to show compassion toward one another, and most of all, will help us to correct injustice.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Dec 6, 2016
• ISBN: 9781524540685

Book preview

Copyright © 2016 by Walker Norris.

Library of Congress Control Number:         2016914606

ISBN:         Hardcover         978-1-5245-4070-8

         Softcover         978-1-5245-4069-2

         eBook         978-1-5245-4068-5

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted

in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,

without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®). Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 12/06/2016

Xlibris

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

747867

CONTENTS

Preface

Chapter 1 Connecting the Dots

Chapter 2 Part One – The First Family

Part Two – Indian Removal

Chapter 3 Part One – Passage to America

Part Two – The Northern Africans

Chapter 4 First Class Characteristics

Chapter 5 That Ole Black Magic

Chapter 6 Silent Hero

Chapter 7 Real True Worth

Chapter 8 Civil Waters Run Deep

Chapter 9 The Draft

Chapter 10 Slavery vs the Bible

This story is compelling enough to draw your attention again and again!

PREFACE

The ole folks in my family often spoke about the way colored people were treated when they first came to America. Leading the way was my great-grandmother Francis Aikens. She was a tiny four foot nine inch woman and everyone in my family affectionately called her Mommy Aikens. Mother Aikens’ great-grandparents came to America as Indentured Servants. They lived on land the family inherited from a man they called Captain Tiff. Captain Tiff gave the land to her great-grandfather long before she was born in 1882 and I remember her telling us that Captain Tiff was good to them. Mother Aiken’s parents raised her on that land until she married and left Georgia headed for Pennsylvania. Years later I asked her about it and she would only say, No one wanted to go back there to claim the land. I never knew her parents -- but Mother Aikens talked about them so much that her stories made me feel like I was sitting right there beside them.

I remember visiting with her often back in the sixties; she was adamant about sharing her past. The subject of slavery was an open wound for her and she found healing talking to us kids about it. She let us know her parents’ generation was forced to depend on a system that was not in favor of them being self-sufficient. Mother Aiken’s used her stories to teach us to be respectful and to encourage us to take advantage of the opportunities our ancestors were denied. My great-grandmother was a Believer and in spite of her disappointment she had a love for and a commitment to religion that was breathtaking. Sunday mornings in her home were always exciting as everyone prepared for church. The family didn’t have much money but she was quick to share her love and knowledge. Our lives were harmonious; church on Sunday, work on Monday and as much shopping as great-grandma could do in between.

But the world around us was in turmoil. We watched racial tensions grow with the untimely deaths of prominent leaders. From political to spiritual the economy was changing forever. There are many people in my family that I could dedicate this book to but I want to honor my great-grandmother because she left an imprint on my life that time has not altered. Mother Aikens took the time to make sure I learned the history of the African people. I believe this taught me to be compassionate, not just towards the colored race, but for Justice. To this day I loathe injustice and I pray this book will have the same legacy my great-grandmother left with me in that it will help us to have a better understanding our history, teach us to show compassion towards each other and most of all help us to correct injustice.

CHAPTER ONE

Connecting the Dots

By the summer of 1975 the memory of slavery had vanished from my neighborhood. The first black radio station to hit the airways had taken over our lives with soul tunes from Motown you couldn’t help but dance to. I was sixteen years old and my great-grandmother was well into the golden years of her life. She was a spirited woman but, at ninety-three years of age, all we could do was make her last days as comfortable as possible. My mom and dad were living the American dream; they owned our childhood home and my father drove a Cadillac. The world for us was finally liberated. Blacks were here to stay. No white person was going to tell us what to do… so we thought. It was Black Power all the way. All across the nation the story of slavery was disappearing from church pulpits. Ministers found other topics to preach about and rarely mentioned slavery unless some political event was going on that made the grown-ups start doubting the white folks again. For a long time just the mention of the word was like telling some deep dark secret, but when I really thought about it every story I learned was sad and depressing anyway. It’s no wonder people lost interest in it.

My inquisitiveness in this subject began when I was studying for my Bachelor’s degree. One semester, the college offered students a deal. If we went to Gettysburg for one weekend, then wrote a term paper about our experience, we would be excused from taking the class. I have to admit I was interested in learning more. Early Saturday morning we loaded onto a Greyhound bus and were given a tour guide. We spent the whole day on the battlefield discussing the war. Our tour guide was very clever diverting the battle at Gettysburg away from the issue of slavery. Finally, the subject came up and I asked him, "If the war wasn’t fought over slavery then what was the war about?" He told us the war was fought over a political difference between the northern and southern states, but neglected to explain the details, so I still had my reservations. Curiosity boarded the bus with me on the return trip home. As we traveled down the highway I began to wonder about the starting point of slavery and how it came to be that Africans encountered this horrible system. I grew up in the church so I found myself interested in the most talked about story of slavery in the Bible. I began to think about the Children of Israel and the battle they fought with the Pharaoh when he refused to set them free.

Even though slavery can be traced back to the Bible I still get annoyed when I put the two subjects together. All I come up with is a page full of unanswered questions that frustrate me because I don’t have an answer for them. You know the ones we secretly want to ask God but were warned to never go there! I was afraid to even think of asking God why He allowed this to happen to the African race or if He really loved the Black race; so I grew up second guessing my ancestry. I never told anyone (but by the time I was nine years old) I thought the black race was cursed by God. These were reasonable feelings for my young mind back in late sixties. Especially, after Dr. King was assassinated and, to be brutally honest with you, I would still like to know the answers to those questions today.

I’ll be the first to admit growing up in church gave me a different outlook on life. Underneath, I had the same anxieties and fears as everyone else but outwardly I was strong because I believed in the one source (God) that secured a positive outcome. I sang spirituals every Sunday morning that let me know I could do all things through Christ who was my inner strength. Reading about slavery caused me to question my religious upbringing and I knew if I felt this way there had to be other people who had doubts too. That’s what gave me the gumption to write this book. I couldn’t understand why God didn’t intervene and help the African people like he did the Children of Israel. The morning after I returned from Gettysburg the issue of slavery was still on my mind. There was a