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My profile picture is my Great Grandfather Mr. “Brody” and his son Great Uncle James (1906), whom I saw with my own eyes. Historical research shows that Mr. “Brody” was born (1878) and his parents were in slavery on the “Brody” Plantation, South Carolina, or North Carolina (two plantation with the same owner name). Mr. “Brody” ancestry through his parents is Gullah, being born in the extended Gullah/Gheechee Corridor. What follows is an anecdotal story that my Grandmother and others in my family passed down to me. According to the story Mr. “Brody” wanted to court a black female domestic of a white family. She was quadroon (a person who is one quarter Black by descendant), where by definition in the U.S.A. she is classed as “Negro” passing the “One-drop rule” where in so-called “legal principle of racial classification that was prominent in the 20th-century United States. It asserted that any person with even one ancestor of black ancestry (“one drop” of “black blood”) is considered black.”
Nevertheless, the white family would not let him court her, and supposedly, he burnt down their house and took his bride to be, my Great-Grandmother Marietta. As a result Mr. “Brody” had to go on the run with his bride and so changed his name to “Brady” or risk beening arrested and likely lynched for attacking white people. The story seems fantastical given that our people like the ancient African griots are given to embellishment for its entertainment value. I have learned not to stand in criticism of these African and Nu African stories, accepting them as Truth-Myth, that is, oral stories designed to hold our attention while giving us a kernel of truth, which they all contain. However, the credulous nature of this story, my family on the maternal side all carry the surname “Brady.”
