Shouldn’t the only publicized African American daughter of a celebrated former Vice President, be worthy of proper recognition⁉
My Great-Grandmother, Nancy Washington Legree, born Nancy Calhoun, was the daughter of the 7th Vice President of The United States of America, John C. Calhoun. (pictured above, Nancy was 105 years old)
While growing up in the upstate of South Carolina, I can vividly remember my early years being very challenging, while also being plagued with unnecessary obstacles and premeditated obstructions. Unexpectedly, I witnessed and experienced racial injustices long before I ever understood that oppression had an actual name.
During my youth, I often times felt ashamed and somewhat cheated due to my lack of knowledge regarding the history of my family. I had always felt that the true history of my family had vanished or somehow been stripped away.
Decades prior to the monumental discovery of a deeply concealed truth that directly connected my family’s history to a former Vice President of The United States of America, I grew up feeling as if there was a great deal of unrecognized prominence within my family that the elders before me had failed to identify.
As a result of the significant missing links in my family’s history that no one else around me showed any interest in unearthing, at times I felt abandoned and also troubled regarding the uncomfortable feeling of understanding, that there was so much missing from my family’s past.
Surprisingly, up until early 2020, I was without any meaningful knowledge of my family’s history. Like the average African American family of today, I couldn’t successfully identify the majority of my ancestors, beyond my mother’s mother or my great-grandmother. Looking back in hindsight, I now realize that I grew up right in the shadows of Death Valley (Memorial stadium) and on the grounds that closely neighbor the Clemson University campus.
In fact, I lived so close to Clemson University campus, when home football games were played at Death Valley stadium and the pregame balloons were released, hours later, my grandmothers’ lawn would be littered with fallen orange balloons that had lost their helium during their flight through the oppressive Pickens County skies. I could practically walk to the college from my grandmother’s house in less than only 10 minutes. My family lived in a historic area of Clemson that tightly bordered the Clemson University campus and our community was appropriately named Calhoun. Up until 1943, the city of Clemson, SC was known as the town of Calhoun.
Ironically, despite the majority of the older generations of my family working tirelessly and giving decades of their lives to build, serve, and protect the city of Clemson, South Carolina, and Clemson University; my family still struggled through extreme poverty.
At times, It becomes really overwhelming when I think about the fact that my family dreadfully suffered right in the direct eyes of the school administration, coaches, and politicians (political leaders), and shamefully my family’s atrocious living conditions did not matter to any of these public officials or school leaders. This disheartening fact pains me, even more, today after discovering the truth regarding my family’s history.
The feeling is much more gut-wrenching, once you calculate the millions of dollars annually that Clemson University has collected by just telling the stories of the enslaved at Fort Hill Plantation for decades now. Stories that were initiated and greatly enabled by the continued enslavement and the inhumane reproduction of slaves by the daughter of a former U.S. Vice President.
“My Grandmother Nancy was Cherokee Indian (born in 1836), and her mother Matha Liza Lee’s family had been in America long before 1776. My genealogy confirms that I am a true Native American. ”
Born Nancy Calhoun, my grandmother, Nancy Washington Legree, was born in 1836, to Martha Liza Lee, a captured Cherokee Indian slave, and was shockingly fathered by John Caldwell Calhoun, who would later become the 7th Vice President of The United States of America. Besides holding several significant state offices, John C. Calhoun also remarkably served as Vice President on two separate occasions, and under two different Presidents of The United States of America.
“Understand that I had to experience a spiritual awakening, create an organization of change, and also make the news by discovering multiple ways to honor a woman, who is the only recognized African American daughter of 7th Vice President, John C. Calhoun, and the state of South Carolina, still has found unconstitutional reasons to stand in the way of official progression of Black People within the state.”
Now I understand that all of these unexplained occurrences had to happen for me to be able to make the solid connection that enabled me to discover that my Native American-Black great grandmother was the daughter of the 7th Vice President of The United States of America, John C. Calhoun.
FOX NEWS Interview featuring the founder of The Men Of Color Having Answers Foundation (M.O.C.H.A.) Andrew Peppers, and the Clemson City Council.
During my quest to discover Solutions to end generational obstacles faced by Black Americans, the Clemson City Council voted unanimously in favor of my written proposal, to name an unnamed walkover bridge located in the historic Calhoun community, in honor of my grandmother, Nancy Washington Legree.
Expectantly, no one in the state of South Carolina came forward to inform anyone in my family of this buried truth that genetically connected my family and the 7th Vice President of The United States.
During that era of time, history books wouldn’t have dared to print an unimaginable truth such as this one. Over the years, the Clemson city and university leadership have watched my family suffer, while also understanding that my family was without knowledge of our family’s true history. Therefore, without the proper education of the origins of our family, my family wasn’t in any better position than our ancestors had been, at being able to ensure that those who were responsible for our immediate hardships, be held accountable for the transgressions that we faced.
No one has ever apologized to the direct descendants of Nancy Washington Legree for our loss of stolen lands, and for over 100 years of free labor (unpaid wages).
The picture below displays a portrait of my grandmother Nancy, and the founder of Clemson University, Thomas Green Clemson.
The Above caption reads,
“Thomas Clemson is pictured in this photograph sitting on the south lawn of Fort Hill. Near the back porch is standing an African-American woman who is believed to be Nancy Calhoun Legree. Nancy was one of many former slaves who were employed by Thomas Clemson, either as household staff or as sharecroppers and tenant farmers. This view shows Cornelia’s garden. She had a childhood African-American companion, Issy Calhoun.” source —- Clemson.EDU
Another very disheartening unknown fact is, Clemson University and other local authorities continued to hold the direct descendants of Nancy Washington Legree (my family) enslaved well over 50 years past the Emancipation Proclamation.
Locally, the people who have traditionally been the recipients of the inheritance of the riches that were gained from slavery, are the same individuals who should morally step up by accepting some of the accountability for what really happened.
Nevertheless, there has been a collective effort to treat the situation of Nancy Washington Legree, as if it wasn’t anyone’s fault. Meanwhile, I have suffered the majority of my life, trying to recover from previous decades of intentional obstructions. Contrastingly, the privileged at Clemson University have the luxury of ignoring the truth, while continuing to unrighteously succeed from the benefits of the enormous inheritance that my family remained enslaved for.
PLEASE READ: The New York Times below ⬇⬇⬇
Article credit: The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/10/opinion/get-my-racist-ancestors-name-off-of-yales-campus.html
Article credit: The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/10/opinion/get-my-racist-ancestors-name-off-of-yales-campus.html
The only thing that Clemson University has done over the years is profit off of the stories of the enslaved by raising millions in funds, by selling merchandise, and telling the safe stories of those the forefathers of the University enslaved. Even after millions of dollars have been raised, gifted, and contributed to various missions to identify and recognize the enslave, not one penny of those funds has ever (knowingly) been contributed to the African American family of the daughter of John C. Calhoun. This is sad, considering the fact that my organization has been the only nonprofit presenting impactful ideas to honor.
The family of Nancy Washington Legree still lives in the area and after the Clemson region was void of plans of recognizing anyone of African American descent, the great-grandson of the Vice President’s daughter comes along with a unique idea to add to history without the battle of a removal of a structure; by naming an unnamed bridge after the Vice Presidents daughter.
However, that motion to name the bridge is never seriously acted upon by a city government. This is despite being Initially told by Clemson City leadership, that a dedication to the history of remembrance of a Black woman whose labor was instrumental to the growth and expansion of Clemson University and the city of Clemson, was fitting.
The signed LEGREE Resolution presented by, The Men Of Color Having Answers Foundation (M.O.C.H.A.) and signed by then mayor J.C. Cook, III, on 10/19/20.
A Black woman whose father, despite his very outspoken and prejudiced stance against freedom for African Americans, is still one of the most celebrated and respected political minds in American history. There is no secret that John C. Calhoun was a very popular political leader in the Southern United States, as he still has markers, monuments, and statues spread across almost half of The 50 states. I discovered that there were a minimum of 23 states that commemorated his memory with streets and highways. In at least 13 states there are various cities and towns that are named in his honor. Across 12 states there are counties that were named in reverence of John C. Calhoun. Another handful of state parks, lakes, and squares also bear my grandfather’s name, along with 15 schools and colleges named in admiration of the 7th Vice President.
In American History, several Vice Presidents and Presidents are greatly respected and admired throughout each of the fifty states. Arguably, none more resented or revered than the highly controversial 7th Vice President of The United States of America, John C. Calhoun. After all, it was Calhoun’s philosophy that started the Civil War.
In fact, in the Southeastern region of the country, no other President comes close to being displayed or celebrated as much as John Caldwell Calhoun does. How could a man be so memorialized, yet his lone African American daughter still is hidden away from the American public at every cost?
One would imagine that it would be an ethical honor for any local or state government to name a bridge while acknowledging one of the only known African American daughters of one of the forefathers of America. Why would a university, a city government, and an entire state, fight so hard to erase a critical piece of history, by ineffectively addressing and ignoring a woman’s history that was previously worthy of being written about and published?
Yes, Clemson University once proudly published my family’s stories of slavery, up until the great-grandson of Nancy Washington Legree made the discovery of his African American family’s ties to a White Vice President of The United States of America.
Nancy Calhoun Legree, the daughter of 7th Vice President, John C. Calhoun, is featured here on the cover of a Clemson University magazine.
Photo credit: Clemson.edu
After creating a nonprofit organization that searched for solutions, I subsequently discovered ways to honor the formerly enslaved through creative and effective methods. Nevertheless, my efforts to honor those formerly enslaved have been swept under the rug, due to the very deep history of my family’s ancestry. A concealed truth that Clemson University is willing to hide at every cost, and one that many privately wish, I had never discovered.
Therefore, those who hide the truth uncompromisingly and unapologetically stand in the way of the progress of the people. This is done by adding more oppressive and inhumane measures to ensure that the suffering of the descendants of those who initially enabled their wealth, continues.
FOX NEWS Interview featuring the founder of The Men Of Color Having Answers Foundation (M.O.C.H.A.) Andrew Peppers.
The truth is, The Men Of Color Having Answers Foundation (M.O.C.H.A.) has moved forward with effective ideas of honoring Nancy Washington Legree, however, the state of South Carolina, Clemson University, and others with private interests have collectively conspired to stop all of our efforts of effective change.
“A slow Jim Crow system of change in South Carolina still recognizes Black People for being the first to be accepted into white businesses. This sends the same wrong message to our children that was first instilled into us. who will also seek to only be accepted by white society. This same system will also offer those who successfully broke down racial barriers of the past, a statue or a marker, however, refuses to offer impactful and meaningful opportunities for change, to the people who have been victimized by generations of oppression.”
PLEASE ASSIST, THE MEN OF COLOR HAVING ANSWERS FOUNDATION (M.O.C.H.A.), WITH BUILDING A SCHOOL THAT WOULD HONOR ONE OF THE ONLY KNOWN AFRICAN-AMERICAN DAUGHTERS OF ONE OF THE FOREFATHERS OF AMERICA.
THE NANCY WASHINGTON LEGREE, DESCENDANTS OF AFRICAN HERITAGE, SCHOOL OF ARTS & SCIENCE.
Please Donate to help The M.O.C.H.A. Foundation’s mission to build a school of excellence in honor of Nancy Washington Legree, for our children. Remember that your contributions to the missions of the formerly enslaved at Clemson have not been distributed to the direct descendants of the family of Nancy Washington Legree, nor have any of your monies been dispersed to The M.O.C.H.A. Foundation. Please add your personal donations to our mission to build our school below. If using Cash App to send your contribution, please use: $MochaMission20 THANK YOU!
Please assist our organization and Help THE M.O.C.H.A. FOUNDATION, BUILD a BETTER Tomorrow, by adding to our mission TODAY.