Radio
Interviews Thursday, June 21 2007 The Stagville Plantation just north of Durham was one of the largest plantations
in the antebellum South, at one time home to more than 900 slaves. For the first time, all of the plantation's descendants
- owners and slaves alike - are being gathered together for a reunion to honor the past and celebrate the present. Ricky Hart,
chairman of the Stagville Descendants Council and Charlene Justice-Bass, the council's president, join host Frank Stasio
to talk about the rich history of Stagville ancestry.
Wednesday, January
3 2007 http://thestory.org/archive/the_story_156_Plantation_Roots.mp3/view Plantation Roots Ricky L. Hart
Ricky Hart had a life-altering epiphany while watching
the TV series, "Roots." The scene depicted the slave, Kunta Kinte, being whipped into using his new name, Toby.
It outraged him, but it also inspired him to dig into his own family history, which dates back to a plantation in North Carolina.
Ricky now wishes he could live on the plantation where his enslaved ancestors
worked. The reason: he believes that confronting history has the power to redeem us.
 Ephraim Hart
Ricky tells Dick what lured generations of his family
to stay until 1970 on the Stagville Plantation. Together they explore the Hart family's history through stories, photos,
a hand-me-down biscuit bowl, and a kind of slave owner's manual, written by slave owner Willie Lynch. The Willie Lynch book, "The Making of a Slave," inspired me to do a lot of things to help break
the control cycle of this destructive path we are on. But I have started at the ground floor, researching, studying and reading,
to get the understanding of how it happened, why does it continue to happen, and how to hopefully have a hand in untying the
noose around our necks, the blinders off our eyes, and the shackles on our minds. - Ricky
L. Hart
Later in the conversation, Ricky and Dick are joined by Jennifer
Farley, a professional historian who's been working on the Stagville Plantation. Many of the descendants of Stagville's
enslaved community still live in the area and are helping her with her research. Ricky and Jennifer are planning a reunion
of Stagville Plantation descendants in June 2007.
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