My ancestors were deliberate colonizers

The common narrative is that the first African slaves were brought to the Jamestown colony in America in 1619, however, when diving deeper, enslaved people of color were forcibly brought to this country as early as the 1500s. And, of course, slavery was rampant in many other countries long before then and continues in some areas to this day.

The date, 1619 reminded me of the ancestry research my great-grandmother gathered to become a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR).

There’s another piece of writing for a different time about the racist policies of this white, ‘elite’ organization formed by the granddaughter of George Washington in 1890. The fact they did not allow a black member to join until 1977 speaks volumes about white supremacy.

To be admitted into the order, my great grandmother had to prove direct lineage to a soldier who fought in the war for United States independence.

I have a document that traces my family’s arrival on the North American continent to 1630. Arendt van Corlear (Curler, Cuyler) traveled by ship from the Netherlands and landed in the New York province.

Arendt was a deliberate colonizer.

His uncle, Kiliaen Van Rensselaer of Amsterdam, Holland, who was a wealthy sheriff or ‘schout’ (similar to a modern-day mayor or court magistrate), sent young Arendt overseas with a chest of coins and the express instruction to secure land to establish a Netherlands colony in the ‘New…