Greetings Good Folks;
Unearthing the untold stories and giving voice to the unsung. I return to participate as a curator for Muisi-kongo’s Kimpa Vita in its second year run. We seek to invoke the healing upon a subject matter that for African Americans stir a harrowing memory of historical racial violence and trauma, as for some Americans its a forgotten song, yet the racial notes don’t disappear. Discovered Family lineages, unveiling story elements and a stellar cast of Bay Area Community leaders serving as “Sermon Messengers” fuel the “Rebirth” of this year’s production.
This post features the marker of one of our highlighted martyrs, Ms. Mary Turner of Barney/Morven, Georgia in Brooks County as the commemorative “Mary Turner Project” spearheads community action initiatives for racial justice and racial healing through driven education, research and preserving free and searchable data of 1860 slave schedules.
I enjoy immensely the deep works of genealogy and how every find matters, giving voice to the story. I encourage you to bear witness to the powerful mediumship of Muisi-Kongo Malonga’s Kimpa Vita, more tenacious than ever, moving towards ascension.
Learn about herstory: Ms. Laura D. Nelson Okemah, Oklahoma – http://bit.ly/13ABY4X
See: PBS Documentary of historical “Banishment” of a people through racial violence, fear and intimidation 1860’s-1920’s http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/banished/film.html
R. Calloway: Project Curator
Creative Visionary,
Performing Diaspora, Counter Pulse, SF, CA
Working My Lines 
Thank you for this important work. Mary Turner was from Barney/Morven, Georgia in Brooks County and not Valdosta which is in Lowndes County.
Pleased to receive your feedback, had only recently learned she was from the Brooks County area, was researching more detailed information — “ask and ye shall receive.” Indeed, I thank you kindly Ms. Gibbs and correction duly noted.
No problem. My family is closely tied to the Turner Legacy. My grandfather and mother were allowed to travel back and forth from Morven to Barney to rescue ‘Kindreds” during the massacre. My brother, Oglesby Lee Jackson, Sr. has worked ALL his life documenting information for future generations. He has a dvd of eye witnesses who have since passed on. We sent it to the Justice Department long time ago. ALL the eyewitnesses have since died. One of the white witnesses attached himself to my brother Osby when Osby was a youngster and VENTED. Showed him the place it happened, etc. We CAME OUT in 2009 during the dedication of the Mary Turner Memorial in Barney. My grandmother shared this with ALL of her relatives throughout her life. Pollie Mae James Jackson who was married to my grandfather, Andrew Jackson, II, was ALLOWED to live in May, 1918 during the rampage. My grandfather drove up to the KKK roadblock and one of the group reached up to grab my grandmother, but was stopped by our white neighbor. “That ain’t them. That’s just Aunt Pollie and Uncle Andy.” They brought wagon loads after wagon loads to our homestead at 5234 Jackson Road in Morven where they hid in the corn fields. (documented). My father was born January 1, 1919. THEY were looking for ALL pregnant females..But God! We are trying to finish family documentation for all. I am 61. My brother is 70. We have worked on this all our lives. You may want to check out The Mary Turner Project on Facebook. Many of the survivors are posting on that page. Thank you.
Greetings Ms Gibbs, as I’ve returned from some unearthing Family research work and prepare to “go into the field” – I had to revisit “Ms. Mary Turner” as I am so deeply inspired by the far-reaching healing works on so many dimensions you, your brother, family and Community bring to our communities, people, affecting the world over. Thank you simply, somehow I believe I shall always be connected. Will check in with the Mary Turner Project on Facebook to learn of updates. Best forward to you and yours.
Wonderful. Let us know if we can help.
I’d honor such an exchange, most certainly will. ~Blessings forward