Knowing where I came from...

Apparently there's a running joke amongst the black community regarding the existent of black Irishmen. Now I was completely unaware of this joke until I moved and was surrounded by "real" black people. When they would ask me what I am mixed with, they would roll their eyes once I started the list off with Irish. I know that eye roll! I've done that eye roll!

There's was a chick with the nappiest hair EVER (her unpicked afro looked liked Celie's vagina bush from The Color Purple) and when we got into the "What are you mixed with?" convo, she had the nerve to tell me she's half Cherokee Indian....I rolled my eyes and hit her with the "Pheesh Please..." and thought "In her fucking dreams was she mixed with Indian".


Because of the response to my list, I started to question my Irish ancestry and all I thought I loved about myself. I called my Pop (my grandpa Bryant<---an Irish surname BTW) who has spent years back tracking his paternal family history. The last known person on his list was named London Bryant (which would be his x5 Great Grandfather) and the family story is that he was born in Ireland and came to the U.S. via a boat route coming up through Panama and ending in New York. My Pop sent me the only actual documentation we have listing a L. Bryant, as a guest aboard a ship, docking into NY in 1855. Below is the scan.

I'm determined to prove my naturally red/brown hair came from my Irish roots ga dammit! When I Googled "London Bryant in Panama during 1800" it gave me a link to a 248 page history of the origin and decedents of the surname Bryant. The brief description Google gives for it's results said that somewhere within the 248 pages, it says "1857 when he returned to the East by way of Panama and Aspinwall route to New York..." and if you look on the form, the boat (with a L.Bryant passenger) was coming back to Aspinwall, NY....

Yes! Now I just have to find it to make sure I'm on to something....

On some real shit though...I truly believe YOU DON'T KNOW WHERE YOU'RE GOING IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHERE YOU CAME FROM! AND NEITHER DO YOUR CHILDREN AND YOUR CHILDREN'S CHILDREN. I have a lot of self-worth (even though I like sex *wink*wink) and I really think it's because I know the names and faces of my ancestors. Make the time to dig around...you may be surprised what you find.

This pic by the way...is a pic of Nick Tyson....my paternal grandma's 3x Great Grandfather. His two sons (way back, way back cousins) were arrested for being wild, white people killing vigilantes in the late 1800's.

Which is probably why my family is so chill with white people nowadays, we got our revenge on them years ago....