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Honoring my enslaved ancestors: Episode 1 : Code Switch In part one of two episodes, B.A. Parker meets people who, like her, are grappling with how to honor their enslaved ancestors. She asks herself: what kind of descendant does she want to be?

Code Switch

Honoring my enslaved ancestors: Episode 1

Honoring my enslaved ancestors: Episode 1

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A photo of Somerset Place plantation in North Carolina. B.A. Parker hide caption

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B.A. Parker

A photo of Somerset Place plantation in North Carolina.

B.A. Parker

Code Switch co-host B.A. Parker's family comes from Somerset Plantation in Creswell, North Carolina. It's a site she passes every summer when she goes to visit her family farm nearby, but for years she's avoided going in. As she navigates honoring the life of her Grandma Doris since her death a couple of years ago, Parker's been asking herself an even bigger question: How are descendants of slavery supposed to maintain the legacy of their ancestors?

This week, we revisit part one of two episodes, where Parker is invited to a symposium at the National Museum of African American History and Culture for "descendants of slavery who are stakeholders of culturally significant historic places." She meets people who, like her, are grappling with how to honor their enslaved ancestors. She asks herself: what kind of descendant does she want to be?

Our engineer was Kwesi Lee.