Panel 26: Reassembling the Pieces: Restoration for Descendants of a Race Massacre (Virtual)
Moderator: Bernice Alexander Bennett
Panelists: Shar Goolsby, Orice Jenkins
In 1915, lynching mobs were searching through the dirt roads of Early County, Georgia for a man named Grandison Goolsby, killing his family members as they hunted. 108 years later, genealogist Orice Jenkins cold-called Grandison’s great-granddaughter, Shar Goolsby, after spending five years researching her family. He shared the details of her ancestor’s life and death in a way that she never heard before. Together, they embarked on a pilgrimage to Early County, where their families had lived since the 1830s.
The panelists will discuss the physical and psychological journey of discovering this information. As a family historian, Orice has gone through the work of identifying each of the victims and survivors of the massacre and contacting their descendants, reuniting relatives that had been separated for generations. As a student of Clinical Mental Health Counseling, Shar is developing a plan to build an inclusive wellness retreat center in Early County, on the same land her ancestors walked on, tangibly repurposing what had been taken from her family. Both Orice and Shar desire to give back to their ancestral homeland after being forcefully removed due to racialized violence.
The panel will be moderated by one of Orice's mentors, Bernice Alexander Bennett, who will lead the discussion on how Orice and Shar draw from the knowledge of their ancestors to bring healing and restoration to their families. They descend from farmers, politicians, freemasons, carpenters, educators, landowners, and they are dedicated to honoring the memories of their ancestors by seeking justice for their community.