Daughter Dialogues
Carol Hector-Harris: Journalist. Never enslaved Africa born patriot, Ghana.
Carol talks about descending from Quock Martrick, born in 1756 Ghana, Africa, who served with George Washington in the American Revolution and was with Benedict Arnold when he left his post; spending three years searching for Quock’s slave master, assuming he had one as always taught in school about blacks in America, but never finding one; going before a council of Ga-Adangbe tribal elders for permission to meet her ancestral relatives in Big Ada then, the family giving her the name of Akutu Martey, meaning part warrior because she beat the odds by returning to them and the proper surname which was butchered to “Martrick” by the English; Quock serving in the Massachusetts militia as a free man alongside enslaved soldiers and slaves serving masters who were fighting, but choosing not to join the British; Quock marrying the daughter of a free black patriot; and three white men trying to get Quock declared insane to take his property, representing himself in court and the judge ruling in his favor. Carol shares oral history about growing up in Massachusetts with her siblings who are 10 to 16 years older and her parents fostering 74 siblings so she would not grow up like an only child, having to cut up and fry six whole chickens for dinner; family visiting Martha's Vineyard and having clambakes in the sand at the beach; being shaped by 6th grade "Africa the Dark Continent" school lesson; attending dance school; starting college at U-Mass, Amherst; wanting a dance career but father deciding she needed to study nursing, later switching to acting and directing at Emerson College; her foster brother in Vietnam showing his sisters' photos to soldiers who wrote letters to them, one becoming her husband; earning a bachelor's in Journalism and master's in International Politics- Sub Saharan Africa; working in public relations, communications and journalism; landing a job with a cable tv station in Antigua while vacationing there; her husband supporting her move to work in Antigua for almost 2 years while he and their two sons stayed in Ohio; working for FEMA being deployed to disaster areas; working in Louisiana on a housing restoration project after hurricane Katrina; working on her PhD in Journalism at 70; paternal grandmother's grandfather being a Civil War veteran, having a farm on a street named after him; sister helping with family research, stuck at 3rd paternal great-grandmother Chloe Jacobs; finding a document by a Boston Historic Genealogy Society researcher with 1790 census listing Quock Martrick, learning Chloe was born in Londonderry Canada; never knowing that blacks were in American Revolution; later learning when working on PhD that some Africans came to America free as mariners or for adventure; joining a Ohio Univ. study abroad program to Ghana; familiar faces and mannerisms of people where her ancestor left 250 years ago; Quock knowing his exact birth date, indicating he is royalty; Ga-Adangbe naming boys born on a Wednesday Quock, her confirming the day; grandmother being upset every time she told the story about DAR not allowing Marian Anderson to sing; joining DAR feeling she owed it to Quock, his wife, and her grandmother since "they kept Marian out but I was going to go in", and as an opportunity to learn; discovering a dozen other patriots; DAR members being genuinely nice; serving as a chapter officer, Librarian, being an example to granddaughters; having been made to feel she doesn’t belong in this country, also in career, and education by some who claimed this country having no relation to the war; having First Americans in her family; people not being able to say go back to Africa; as a member of the DAR, bringing recognition to people who have been ignored.
Read Carol's biography at www.daughterdialogues.com/daughters
Subscribe to the newsletter at www.daughterdialogues.com
Carol talks about descending from Quock Martrick, born in 1756 Ghana, Africa, who served with George Washington in the American Revolution and was with Benedict Arnold when he left his post; spending three years searching for Quock’s slave master, assuming he had one as always taught in school about blacks in America, but never finding one; going before a council of Ga-Adangbe tribal elders for permission to meet her ancestral relatives in Big Ada then, the family giving her the name of Akutu Martey, meaning part warrior because she beat the odds by returning to them and the proper surname which was butchered to “Martrick” by the English; Quock serving in the Massachusetts militia as a free man alongside enslaved soldiers and slaves serving masters who were fighting, but choosing not to join the British; Quock marrying the daughter of a free black patriot; and three white men trying to get Quock declared insane to take his property, representing himself in court and the judge ruling in his favor. Carol shares oral history about growing up in Massachusetts with her siblings who are 10 to 16 years older and her parents fostering 74 siblings so she would not grow up like an only child, having to cut up and fry six whole chickens for dinner; family visiting Martha's Vineyard and having clambakes in the sand at the beach; being shaped by 6th grade "Africa the Dark Continent" school lesson; attending dance school; starting college at U-Mass, Amherst; wanting a dance career but father deciding she needed to study nursing, later switching to acting and directing at Emerson College; her foster brother in Vietnam showing his sisters' photos to soldiers who wrote letters to them, one becoming her husband; earning a bachelor's in Journalism and master's in International Politics- Sub Saharan Africa; working in public relations, communications and journalism; landing a job with a cable tv station in Antigua while vacationing there; her husband supporting her move to work in Antigua for almost 2 years while he and their two sons stayed in Ohio; working for FEMA being deployed to disaster areas; working in Louisiana on a housing restoration project after hurricane Katrina; working on her PhD in Journalism at 70; paternal grandmother's grandfather being a Civil War veteran, having a farm on a street named after him; sister helping with family research, stuck at 3rd paternal great-grandmother Chloe Jacobs; finding a document by a Boston Historic Genealogy Society researcher with 1790 census listing Quock Martrick, learning Chloe was born in Londonderry Canada; never knowing that blacks were in American Revolution; later learning when working on PhD that some Africans came to America free as mariners or for adventure; joining a Ohio Univ. study abroad program to Ghana; familiar faces and mannerisms of people where her ancestor left 250 years ago; Quock knowing his exact birth date, indicating he is royalty; Ga-Adangbe naming boys born on a Wednesday Quock, her confirming the day; grandmother being upset every time she told the story about DAR not allowing Marian Anderson to sing; joining DAR feeling she owed it to Quock, his wife, and her grandmother since "they kept Marian out but I was going to go in", and as an opportunity to learn; discovering a dozen other patriots; DAR members being genuinely nice; serving as a chapter officer, Librarian, being an example to granddaughters; having been made to feel she doesn’t belong in this country, also in career, and education by some who claimed this country having no relation to the war; having First Americans in her family; people not being able to say go back to Africa; as a member of the DAR, bringing recognition to people who have been ignored.
Read Carol's biography at www.daughterdialogues.com/daughters
Subscribe to the newsletter at www.daughterdialogues.com