Posted on 02/21/2011 6:01:03 PM PST by Germanicus Cretorian
George Washington's name is inseparable from America, and not only from the nation's history. It identifies countless streets, buildings, mountains, bridges, monuments, cities — and people.
In a puzzling twist, most of these people are black. The 2000 U.S. Census counted 163,036 people with the surname Washington. Ninety percent of them were African-American, a far higher black percentage than for any other common name.
The story of how Washington became the "blackest name" begins with slavery and takes a sharp turn after the Civil War, when all blacks were allowed the dignity of a surname.
Even before Emancipation, many enslaved black people chose their own surnames to establish their identities. Afterward, some historians theorize, large numbers of blacks chose the name Washington in the process of asserting their freedom.
Today there are black Washingtons, like this writer, who are often identified as African-American by people they have never met. There are white Washingtons who are sometimes misidentified and have felt discrimination. There are Washingtons of both races who view the name as a special — if complicated — gift.
And there remains the presence of George, born 279 years ago on Feb. 22, whose complex relationship with slavery echoes in the blackness of his name today.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Thanks - interesting reading up on him. And Pierce County named after President Pierce. And to bring it back to the slaves/black names - William Rufus DeVane King was one of the largest slave holders in Alabama (country?) at the time.
If you saw the movie "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" and remember Kevin Spacey's character, I think that would be a good characterization of King.
William Rufus DeVane King was the long time room mate (in Washington, DC) of later President James Buchanan. At that time Congress was in session for only a few months every other year, the rest of the time they were in Alabama and Pennsylvania respectively. King was elected VP with Pierce in 1852, but took the oath of office in Cuba where he was staying for health reasons (it took a special act of Congress to allow this). He died at home shortly afterwards, and never set foot in DC while he was VP.
There were whispers that King and Buchanan were more than just roommates.
They said the same thing about Lincoln because he occasionally shared a bed in rooming houses while ‘riding circuit’ in Illinois. Public behavior was different in that century, but any actually evidence of sodomy would have ended in jail or a grave, not a political career.
Didn’t American Indians commonly name themselves after some signifying vision they had in a dream around the time of adolescence? Hence names like Red Feather, Big Eagle, and the like.
Suppose one of this Indians had a more modernized dream, perhaps of a rifle being used in combat. Then he had to take a surname. Might that result in a Hot Rod Lincoln?
I read that, but didn’t want to bring it up in case King was a favorite of yours! Got me to thinking though, but I couldn’t find any information on Martin Luther King’s ancestry - did the slaves sometimes take the names of the Plantation owners? And could M.L. King be descended from a slave of William R. King?
"Tell me, Chief Soaring Eagle, how is it that our people acquire our names?"
"In this manner: that a father, upon hearing of his child's birth, names the child after the first thing he then sees. But why do you ask me this question, Two Dogs ****ing?"
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.