Believe it or not, every black American has a father. It is true, dear friends. There is no immaculate conception in American history. Every human, black or white or yellow or red or brown, came into this world as a result of sperm and egg combined. I know, I know, you read about fatherless black children but trust me on this one.
My good friend, Dan, shared with me an article about the first black female bank president, Maggie L. Walker. And I quote — Maggie Lena Walker, the daughter of a former slave and cook, was the first woman to charter a bank in the United States in 1902. Maggie Walker’s Mother What is lacking with this descriptor? The absent father figure.
Maggie Lena Draper was born on July 15, 1864, the daughter of Elizabeth Draper and Eccles Cuthbert. Yes, Walker’s mother was a former slave and assistant cook at the Van Lew estate in Church Hill of Richmond, Virginia. It is equally true Maggie Walker was the daughter of Cuthbert, an Irish American journalist for the New York Herald, based in Virginia. Maggie Walker’s Father The writer, Marie R. Harper, unknowingly perpetuates the misperception that fathers of black people are invisible, absent, missing in action. No, people, black people are humans. Black people are conceived by a mother and a father. We dehumanize black people when we erase and airbrush out of existence fathers of black people, particularly and especially famous black Americans.
It is material and noteworthy for readers to recognize Maggie Walker was half Irish American. Many black Americans are of Irish descent. I am of Irish descent through both my Mom’s line and my Dad’s line. My mother-in-law is 25% Irish. What good is served when the Irish is swept away from one’s lineage?
I urge writers to always recognize fathers and mothers of famous black Americans. Doing so serves several important purposes. First, readers and students accept as a norm that all black people with deep roots in America are mixed. That is important as a unifying concept. Second, acknowledging fathers weakens the caricature and stereotype of invisible fathers of black people. Once again, make the effort. Do the work. Track down and acknowledge the father, whether the father be black, white, brown, or red. It is important to do so as an anti-caricature principle. Third, distant non-black cousins will feel closer affinity with their famous black ancestor and black cousins. This is how we take small steps to bring black people into the family of universal and common human experience.
For an example and model of how to do it right, consider my Pioneer Black Lawyers Series Season 4 Episodes 1 - 29. I never erased fathers of pioneer black lawyers from existence. At every opportunity, I researched the paternal line and duly noted Dads, be the Dads Irish, English, Black or otherwise.
Pioneer Black Lawyers Season 4
Episode 1 Samuel Jones Bampfield English Dad
Episode 3 William H. Brisby Free Black Dad
Episode 4 Alexander K. Davis White Dad Col. A.C. McClurg (presumed)
Episode 5 Pierre C. Landry White Dad Rosemond Landry (laborer)
Episode 6 Daniel L. Lapsley Slave Dad
Episode 7 Samuel J. Lee White Dad Brig. General S. J. McGowan
Episode 8 Orindatus Simon Bolivar Wall State Senator Stephen Wall
Episode 11 Louis J. Winston Wealthy White Dad
Episode 12 Samuel K. Adams Free Black Dad Benjamin Adams
Episode 13 Ceaser C. Antoine Free Black Dad (War of 1812 veteran)
Episode 14 Sugar T. George Slave Dad Sorrow Pigeon
Episode 15 Archibald Henry Grimke White Dad Henry Grimke (lawyer)
Episode 16 Matthew M. Lewey Free Black Dad John W. Lewey
Episode 19 Louis A. Martinet White Dad Hipolite Martinet (carpenter)
Episode 20 Henry J. Maxwell Free Black Dad
Episode 21 Thomas Ezekial Miller White Dad (wealthy)
Episode 22 M.M. McLeod Free Dad (race unknown)
Episode 26 John Robinson White Dad (Isbell family)
Episode 28 John Henry Smythe Free Black Dad (Sully Smythe)
Conclusion: Too often, fathers of black people are not in the picture. The least we can do as writers is to acknowledge known fathers of famous black figures in American history. To not acknowledge fathers is to erase and replace Dads with non-existence. I always identify fathers of Pioneer Black Lawyers when I can because humans come from a mother and a father. Maggie Walker deserves to have her father properly recognized in the literature.
Otherwise, we are creating one-dimensional people as we reimagine history. The first black female bank president was of Irish American descent. That is truth. Those are the facts. And the writer Marie R. Harness should credit both the man, and the woman, who brought Maggie L. Walker into existence.
Maggie L. Walker (1864 - 1934)
I wonder if some writer or scholar has written about the Irish ancestry of many black Americans. Who were the Irish ancestors? Are they mostly forgotten by descendants? Why do many black Americans erase and/or deny their Irish ancestry? What genetic traits from Ireland can be found in many black Americans? What would be the impact of black Americans practicing "inclusion" and acknowledging their identity as part Irish? Is it possible to be proudly black and Irish at the same time? Should we encourage more ethnic inclusion and acceptance of diversity within Black American identity? What do you think?
The relations were nuanced and complex. On the one hand, one finds Irish and Black parents having mixed families. Most of the children remained black but some chose to pass for white. See Patrick Francis Healy (1834 - 1910), President of Georgetown University. https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fblackamericaweb.com%2F2018%2F07%2F26%2Flittle-known-black-history-fact-rev-patrick-francis-healy%2F&psig=AOvVaw0IMpVudMPMe2QOIL6lqKBL&ust=1714788555165000&source=images&cd=vfe&opi=89978449&ved=0CBIQjRxqFwoTCLCv466z8IUDFQAAAAAdAAAAABAE His mother was one-eighth Black and his father was a White Irish emigrant. The spectrum ran all the way to Irish fathers passing for black (like my ancestor) to Irish ancestors who raped black ancestors and Africans who had children by Irish indentured servants. Each coupling was different but the presence of the Irish in many black Americans is a fact. Hope that helps.