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“Goodbye, Morganza” Follows the Legacy of a Black Family’s Property Loss
The New Yorker
Follow
11/13/2024
Devon Blackwell’s short documentary explores how her great-grandparents lost the house they had owned since 1892, and the impact of that loss on generations of her family.
Category
🛠️
Lifestyle
Transcript
Display full video transcript
00:30
1950s, blacks could not advance because this thumb was always on their neck.
00:44
It broke my mom's heart that on her watch she lost her property.
01:00
Of all the hurts that I have in my life, that is probably the biggest one.
01:30
So we got, we're gonna have some tilapia with beans and rice and a salad, huh?
01:45
I know, but you'll have leftovers.
01:47
Oh, hell yeah.
01:48
Come on, what glasses you want to use?
01:53
I got some cream curry, baby.
01:56
You like that, right?
01:57
Well, that's not wine, but yeah, that's fine.
02:02
Why ain't it wine?
02:03
Because that's not, that's sherry.
02:04
That's a whole different, that's a whole different species.
02:06
Oh, sherry is wine, man.
02:07
What you talking about?
02:09
Yeah, I guess.
02:10
I gain a way, I guess to it.
02:12
All right, mama.
02:14
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
02:16
Amen.
02:17
Blessed are you, Lord, for these are our gifts, which we are about to receive from
02:21
the alabaster crowned son of the Lord.
02:24
Amen.
02:25
All right, let's eat.
02:27
So that's...
02:36
That's your great...
02:38
Great-grandpa, and that's great-grandma, and that's Alice.
02:48
This is Alice Marshall, and her husband, Wilson Marshall.
02:58
My mom was a secretary, and my father was a treasurer for the St. Joseph's housing project.
03:10
It provided homes for blacks who needed homes.
03:15
This is a home of Mrs. Annie Bankins.
03:17
This is one of the first homes to be built in the area.
03:21
Come on in.
03:22
Well, thank you.
03:24
Go right ahead, go right.
03:26
My parents knew that having a house, a home, was very, very important.
03:34
And they dedicated an awful lot of time and energy to making sure that those homes were built.
03:44
Black people didn't take leadership roles like that.
03:51
I mean, they did everything.
03:53
You can see pictures of my mother at a home that's being built.
03:58
Was quite unique.
04:03
They changed quite a few lives.
04:11
See, and she always had her face.
04:16
She knew her angles.
04:19
That's the best side.
04:20
That's her side.
04:21
She worked her angles.
04:22
Every picture.
04:23
See, the same one.
04:25
Alice and Wilson Marshall are my grandparents.
04:29
They lived in Morganza, Maryland.
04:32
There was a room where they just kept things.
04:36
Just a lot of things.
04:37
There was lots of cigar boxes with just knickknacks.
04:43
For a time, it felt like we went down there every weekend.
04:46
You could just explore.
04:49
You could hear all the crickets were chirping.
04:52
And it was just very peaceful.
04:56
As a family, we lived in a home that was loving, with loving parents.
05:05
They did all the things that they were supposed to do.
05:11
It was just the White House among the trees, and it was just a piece of heaven.
05:22
The way we lost a property, it's too painful to think about.
05:53
There were some taxes that were due, and mom and dad didn't have the wherewithal to pay it.
06:13
And so she approached a gentleman who helped her out financially
06:18
with the proviso that he would sell her back the house.
06:23
But that didn't happen.
06:27
He said he was going to keep it, and that's what he did.
06:33
Mom and dad paid rent.
06:35
He said he was going to keep it, and that's what he did.
06:41
Mom and dad paid rent up until they died in 1992, 1998.
06:51
Eventually, my sisters and I just moved from the house.
06:56
We had to pack up everything, and then we put it in storage.
07:04
It was really, really, really bittersweet, especially for my mom,
07:11
because it had been in her family for years.
07:17
Hello? How are you?
07:25
Ah, Mokie-Dokie, I'm calling to see if you're gonna be joining me for dinner tonight.
07:34
I'm calling to see if my sister's coming.
07:38
I'm calling to see if my sister's coming.
07:41
Ah, Mokey Dokey. I'm calling to see if you're going to be joining us tomorrow.
07:47
Okay? So, I'll be you.
07:50
Okay, well, you can just mention to her, please, about tomorrow.
07:56
Have some idea of what you want.
07:58
No, no. But, is the family doing okay?
08:02
Okay, good. I'll see you tomorrow, here.
08:06
Okay, bye-bye.
08:12
Yo!
08:13
Well, let's see what they're going to do, see.
08:15
Yeah, no mama.
08:16
Yeah.
08:17
All right, bring this up, mama.
08:18
You ready to work? You got your gloves?
08:20
How you doing?
08:22
How you doing?
08:25
What did he say?
08:31
It's amazing how you can reduce a whole house to two storage areas.
08:39
There's Morganza.
08:42
That's a high chair.
08:45
Is it?
08:46
It sure is.
08:47
That is a high chair. Oh, no.
08:48
Oh, it's a chair chair.
08:50
Oh, it's a chair chair.
08:51
Oh, how adorable is that?
08:52
I like that.
08:53
That's cute.
08:54
That's a step stool and a chair.
08:57
You want to shut the front door?
09:00
Hey, hey, Dave. Come here. Look at this, man.
09:03
Come on around here. Look at this.
09:06
Oh, she's your turntable.
09:08
Get out of here. That's old control, man.
09:11
Get out of here.
09:14
What y'all find over there?
09:16
Wonder does she grieve every lovely evening
09:25
In a little Spanish house on a night like this
09:33
Hey, guys, we found a treasure chest.
09:38
Take the switch from it.
09:40
What?
09:41
Is it aggressive?
09:42
Take the brush.
09:43
Oh, the brush.
09:45
All these girls have stuff in them.
09:53
I was hurting.
09:56
I was hurting so much when we were cleaning out the house.
10:01
It's taken quite a few years to get over the hurt.
10:08
We just ran out of time.
10:14
So it's up to me to somehow clear out the storage unit.
10:21
Oh, I feel so good in here.
10:25
I'm going to do my best with help from my family.
10:31
And we'll do it.
10:33
Johnny
10:35
Paul
10:49
Once you have lost something,
10:54
you don't want anyone else to have to go through that same thing.
11:01
So you strive to make it not happen to someone else.
11:06
And I think that's what my mother and father did.
11:19
We're driving the wrong way.
11:22
Why do you say we? I'm not driving.
11:26
Were you with me?
11:31
But they didn't do a thing to the church.
11:34
They did some things to the church.
11:36
Well, they didn't change the front door.
11:41
But do you remember that Saturday we got married?
11:47
No.
11:48
I'm going to go home and look at the pictures.
11:50
Well, yeah, because I know.
11:52
You don't remember?
11:54
Oh, look at that. This is neat.
11:58
He's got a pretty good deck up here.
12:02
I don't know.
12:04
Oh, look at that. This is neat.
12:08
He's got a pretty good deck up here.
12:35
As it was in the beginning, and there shall be one.
12:45
Dad was buried first, because he died first.
12:50
And then Mom was buried on top of him.
12:55
So that we could keep her in that plot.
13:04
I'm going to put it in front of it.
13:06
All right, yeah, right in front of it.
13:09
But I can't get it in.
13:14
In order to acquire a tombstone,
13:19
you have to have quite a bit of money.
13:30
How about that? Huh?
13:32
There you go, baby.
13:35
Looks pretty good, doesn't it?
13:40
I can feel their presence.
13:43
And it's okay.
13:47
It's okay.
13:51
Amen.
13:52
Amen.
13:53
Amen and amen.
13:58
But it's great to be here with you all,
14:00
because it's been a long time.
14:02
Very long time.
14:05
We wrote a song about it.
14:08
Here it goes.
14:15
We'll see what the song is about.
14:28
Oh baby, oh baby, where'd you go?
14:51
Here I am.
14:54
Oh baby, oh baby, where'd you go?
15:02
I've been looking for you all night.
15:07
Where'd you go?
15:11
Oh baby, oh baby, where'd you go?
15:19
It's a secret!
15:21
All right.
15:26
Thank you for your participation.
15:28
Thank you for your participation.
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9:24
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