Molly's Poetry

A Small Stone Representing a Big Story

by Molly P.

A small gold stone on the ground in front of the Madison Congregational Church

just a couple of lines:

caregiver, weaver, mother, and grandmother

taken from Africa

enslaved here

emancipated 1791

circa 1744-1816

Her story a very complicated, hard story to tell that should not be hard.

So many missing documents and so much lost humanity

due to carelessness and disrespect.

Spending days, weeks, months, years

looking for information you’re never going to find

and yet still having to infer and make educated guesses

based on information we were given.

She cared about people.

When Timothy Todd got hurt she helped him and cared for him

We assume that she liked to weave

because in documents it says she was given a loom.

She was a mother to Lettuce Bailey and a grandmother to Lettuce’s children.

Getting told lies daily

luckily finding out the real truth

13 years after we were born and 205 years after she passed away.

Her name is Tamar.

Is this the name she was born with?

We may never find out!

Authors Statement:

Molly's statement is created in the shape of the Sankofa bird. Sankofa is an expression from the Akan people of Ghana which effectively means, "It is not wrong to go back for that which you have forgotten." Symbolized by a bird looking over its shoulder, Sankofa is a perfect expression of what we have tried to do with our Witness Stones Project, calling upon all of us to “look over our shoulder” — or to metaphorically peer into the past — as we explore our history so we can move forward with knowledge and intention. In her statement, Molly uses pieces of “Look Over Your Shoulder,” a poem she was inspired to write for history class earlier in the school year.