Several years ago, I was obsessed with genealogy. I believe my earliest Goad ancestor arrived in Virginia in the mid 1600s as an indentured servant, but there’s no proof. On my mom’s side, one ancestor was hung as a horse thief during the Revolutionary War, but he only stole them from the British.

Perhaps I’ll get back to genealogy one day.

Thanks for including a link on your homeschooling site.

My grandmother was Blackfoot Indian, Black, and Irish. She could pass for white, many thought she was Italian, and she did. She could get work. She was a Rosy Riveter; She also one of the first women to work in real estate. As the laws changed she no longer had to hide her identity. I’ve had many conversations with her about her experiences. She died in 2004 at the age of 93.

When I was younger, I tried to trace my ancestors but could not get past slavery times. The slaves usually had their names changed they were brought to this country. The families were broken up during slave auctions. I know I’m related to more people than I think I am simply because of that.

History has always interested me not so much the history that was taught to me in school I know that already and have read numerous books on the subject but more so the untold history involving the roles that minorities played in it. As a child I knew nothing about that. Thanks to my father I was able to dig deeper.

There is a wealth of information out there and many played an active role throughout history even within the wars that were fought.

With my daughter, who’s Black, Indian, Irish, & German, I do exactly what my father did with my brother and me. I tell her the history you see in the books along with the history you have to search for since for whatever reason it doesn’t make its way into the “traditional history books” that I’ve seen.

Thanks for sharing the story. I love history and always enjoy hearing or reading about it.