Many African American last names hold weight of Black history.
. Some newly freed Black folks who could read chose unique names they saw in newspapers despite lacking a connection to that family. Some named themselves after aspirational Black figures like Frederick Douglass.
Much of what is known about Black surnames come from Civil War records. Formerly enslaved Africans were, typically, enlisted by white military administrators who filled out their initial documents. “There’s tremendous variation and pattern,” Brimmer said. “It’s a moment where people who are coming from an oral culture are now having to engage with government bureaucracies and having to engage with surnames that certainly have meaning within their communities, but now have implications.”
But it’s a common misunderstanding that newly freed Black folks always took the name of their enslaver. Unless the surname is unique, explained genealogist Kenyatta Berry, that likely wasn’t the case. “By having that name and knowing that his father was from one of the prominent families in that county, that was a way to say, ‘You’re not gonna forget that. Even though my mother was sexually assaulted, I’m part of this family,’” she said.
“That’s something you have control over,” Berry said. “Before, as a Black woman, you didn’t have control over your own agency of your body. You didn’t have control over whether or not your children would still be there. You didn’t have control over if your husband or partner, that you were with, would be there. And, as a man, you didn’t have control over your family. You couldn’t protect your family as much because everything was at the will of the enslaver.
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