great-great-grandmother Emma was the last slave in our family.
And she also was the first free person on these lands in our family.
And I know the story of her that she knew how to write because it was a dangerous proposition
for a slave to be able to read and write.
And especially as a child, the slave master tried to hammer off all of her fingers,
but she still could write until she passed away.
And I know the story of how great-great-granddad Bradford earned his freedom in Alabama
and walked to Mississippi and purchased the freedom of great-great-grandma Emma, and they walked back to Alabama.
They didn't wait for emancipation.
And I also know their story of emancipation is also a love story.
I understand how they fell in love and married.
But we have no intimate details about her life.
And so I think about that walk.
I think about who must have helped them.
I wonder, what was their intimate family and love life like?
The first woman in my line who could write, I wonder if she wrote love letters to her husband.
Was there a sight that she saw that made her heart jump?
Was it like a kid coming home from school if there was a schoolhouse that they went to?
Those were some of the questions that I had.
And I found myself able for the first time to imagine her life.