Did George Washington Really Enslave My Family? Here Is the Awful Truth.

Your heroes and mine are not the same

To most Americans, George Washington is a virtuous hero. He is hailed as a great man of high moral standard and a courageous leader. We are taught as young children in the American school system to revere the country’s first president as an honorable and God-fearing man. Myths about his honest character are drummed into our young minds before we can even think to question the whitewashed record of this man’s history. (BTW, that whole cherry tree thing never even happened #morelies)

To me, however, George Washington was just another White supremacist. Though I was born and raised in the United States — a place where Washington is damn near deified — the man is but one of many so-called American heroes I can never bring myself to respect. Oh, how I wish America would stop creating these grand myths and passing them off as truth. George Washington was a most despicable human being.

Why do I say such things about one of the first American celebrities? Because Washington held Africans captive at his forced labor camp (shout out to Andrew Gaertner for reminding me to call ‘plantations’ what they really were). He believed himself superior to Africans and dishonored their humanity in the worst possible ways.

Take just a moment to read the U.S. government’s official bio on America’s first president below. As you read, do you notice any mention of Washington and his wife holding hundreds of innocent Africans captive? Any mention of them forcing these poor souls to toil day and night for the Washington family’s profit? What about Black children? Do you see any mention of them cruelly separating children from their parents and destroying families forever?

Just so you know I’m not pulling stuff out of the blue about America’s hero, the official website dedicated to Washington’s forced labor camp details some of this. See for yourself here.

And Now Let’s Get Personal

In more recent years, I’ve also come to realize that it’s possible I have a personal connection to this malicious rogue.

You’ve heard me mention one of my possible ancestors, Egya Amkwandoh, a couple of times before here on Medium. The first time I mentioned him was in my essay about Black people not swimming. He came up again when I shared my curiosity about traditional African spirituality. In either of those pieces, I never broke his whole story down and so please allow me to do so before going any further.

Here’s To the Ancestor

Egya Amkwandoh (Google him), the son of a chief, was kidnapped from Ghana at just 12 years old. His family would never know what became of him as he was removed from Africa and enslaved in America. On the forced journey from his native homeland to the U.S., the frightened boy was asked his name to which it’s believed he replied “Amkwandoh”, which was his family name. Unable to understand what he was saying, someone assumed he’d replied “I am Quando” and so he was called Quando for the rest of his life. Ditto for the two sons he eventually had who were separated from their parents and from one another as one was sent to Maryland and the other to Virginia. Then, at some point in the 1700s, the Quando name came to be spelled and pronounced ‘Quander’.

Today, Quander is celebrated as the oldest African-American surname in the United States. There are several notable Quanders in the U.S. and, with a rich history in the Maryland and Virginia areas, there are streets bearing that family name. Historians believe anyone with that last name who also have ancestors from those areas are more than likely related to the original one and only Egya Amkwandoh. On my paternal side, I descend from a Quander branch in Maryland hence why I believe Egya Amkwandoh was also my ancestor.

My cousin who is nearing her 90th trip around the sun is a bona-fide genealogist and she is the one who discovered this. With years and years of family research under her belt she’s mentioned the Quander name to me probably a million times. Sadly, it wasn’t until maybe five to seven years ago that I began to really listen with interest. Since tuning in, however, I’ve learned that a group of present-day Quanders from here in the U.S. traveled to Ghana several years ago to reunite with the descendants of Egya Amkwandoh. How beautiful is that!

My cousin has been to Quander family reunions, but I have not. In fact, I don’t know anyone from that group of Quanders at all. But a few years ago, when I knew I was headed to Ghana, I desperately tried to contact Rohulamin Quander (who heads the Quander Historical and Educational Society). I sooooo wanted to meet Egya’s Ghanaian descendants while I was in that country. So far, none of the telephone numbers and email addresses I’ve tried have helped me connect to Rohulamin, though. I hope I do get to speak with him someday.

To my knowledge, none of the U.S. Quanders who’ve been blessed to visit Egya’s descendants have relocated to West Africa. The fact that they made the journey to reconnect the bond that had been broken is absolutely astounding, though, and it’s something I’d like to see more CHOSSA from all over the world do. If not for ourselves, definitely for the ancestors who longed to go home, but never could. In fact, the very first essay I wrote on Medium was encouraging CHOSSA to embrace Africa and my thoughts haven’t changed one bit from then until now.

Washington the White Supremacist

Back to George Washington, though. Knowing this man held my people in bondage and now with knowing that ‘my people’ may even point to a literal ancestor, completely spoils his reputation for me. Say what you want, but I don’t do nuance when it comes to the enslavement of my people. George Washington was a horrible person, period.

While I don’t need my heroes to be without spot or blemish, I do need them to have a basic respect for humanity, to be generally kind to others and to truly believe in freedom for all. At the very least, I don’t expect them to hold human beings captive, sell children and force people to work for sole and selfish gain. George Washington fails my litmus test miserably. I’m of the opinion he is no better a man than Hitler, Mussolini or Stalin.

So there you have it. My possible connection to George Washington is one I really would rather not have, but such is life. The only good thing that comes out of knowing this information is the idea of someday reconnecting with Egya’s descendants on the Continent. For me, that would be a most glorious, full-circle event!

As always, your thoughts are welcome in the comments.

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