Rants about Wright overlook the pain of slavery

My grandmother Ethel shared with me an early 1870s photograph she cherished of her grandmother Sarah. She was a striking woman with a deep, dark complexion and long black hair, braided waist length. She may have been native Indian, given that Silver Bluff, S.C., established an Indian trading block in the 1700s, or she may have been from the British West Indies.

Sarah gave birth to my great-grandfather in the late 1870s, shortly after Abolition. Joe McElmurray was born out of the slave-master relationship between her and John McElmurray. The specifics of their relationship are unknown. However, oral history tells the story that the elder John was present at the birth of his son. One can speculate by John's presence at his son's birth there was affection between him and Sarah.


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