Ivy Talk: What It Means to Be a Descendant to Me

Mariah Payne is a rising senior at Christopher Newport University and a current intern at the Ivy Creek Foundation. Many years ago, one of her family members discovered their relation to the Gillettes, an enslaved family at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello. Earlier this summer, Mariah also learned about her relation to Texie Mae Hawkins as her great great great aunt. In “What it Means to be a Descendant to Me,” Mariah will share what she knows about each family and discuss her perspective as well as how it feels to learn about her own descendancy as an African American. She hopes to inspire others to research their family history and continue the dialogue on descendancy in central Virginia.

This talk will be held via Zoom. The talk is free, but registration is required here.