Clemson University held my grandmother Enslaved for 50 years past the emancipation & refused to let her go. Here is what the ACC should know🫢
Photo credit: rubbingtherock.com
Over the weekend, college football kicked off with a bang, with two of the biggest and most impressive wins in the nation, showcasing the University of Colorado Buffaloes and the Florida State University Seminoles, respectively.
Realistically, the two inspiring wins by the aforementioned teams, shouldn’t be as shocking to the college football world, as it seems to be.
After all, both the Seminoles and the Buffaloes, most effectively managed and utilized the transfer portal during the offseason, to instantly fulfill their team’s dire needs. So it wasn’t a surprise for some, that these two dynamic teams are the two hottest and most highlighted teams from the first full week of college football in 2023.
At Clemson, tradition is trendy, however, transfers are transforming the game.
In order to successfully adapt to the quickly evolving environment of today’s college football, one must be able to sufficiently combine old ideas with new knowledge in attempt to remain relevant. It is also just as important for successful coaches to be able to effectively adjust, rebuild, restructure at the end of each season, while learning to accept and maximize on opportunities gained from the new knowledge that they have obtained.
Photo credit: Sportskeeda.com
Traditionally, the people that have generated the greatest revenue for Clemson, have been undervalued. Similar story of my ancestors experience at Clemson.
Recently, a written feature posted on sportskeeda.com expressed the concerns that some had in the Clemson sports community about Clemson University feeling held hostage by the Atlantic Coast Conference; due to the enormous value, revenue, and exposure that the addition of the tigers adds to the ACC.
My question to Clemson University is, does it seem fair to you, for a group of partners to hold onto you and refuse to allow you to leave, based on the revenue that you generate for them?
At least Clemson is being compensated for their very valuable labor. The situation was a whole lot different for my grandmother, while being held captive for most of her 105 years at Clemson.
My grandmother, Nancy Washington Legree, a woman who was enslaved at Clemson’s Fort Hill Plantation for almost 50 years past the emancipation, never received anything for her hard work that she contributed to the beginnings, in order to make Clemson University the institution that it is today. Inhumanly, my grandmother and her family was still enslaved at Clemson University (formerly Clemson College) up until about 1920.
Clemson University has refused to work with The Men Of Color Having Answers Foundation (M.O.C.H.A.), for the purposes of silencing a historical American truth.
Review The shocking video below⬇️
Despite successfully writing a proposal to the Clemson City Council that would name a bridge in honor of my grandmother Nancy Washington Legree, and receiving a unanimous vote from the Clemson City Council; no genuine efforts have been made by Clemson City or University to honor a woman whose story of perseverance had previously been published by Clemson University Press.
My FOX NEWS Interview regarding naming a Bridge after a formerly enslaved African American woman in CLEMSON, SC⬇️
FOX NEWS Interview of Clemson City mayor approving the naming of the bridge⬇️
Ironically, about a week after history had been made by the Men Of Color Having Answers Foundation, as a result of the unanimous decision that had been reached which supported the naming of the unnamed bridge, (in dedication of the memory of a previously publicized African American woman) by the Clemson City Council on 10/19/20; I received the following invitation to attend a cemetery tour.
This swiftly assembled tour, was sponsored by Clemson University, and under the direction of Clemson professor, Dr Rhondda Thomas. The Cemetery Tour event date stated on the flyer was October 25, 2020.
After attending the cemetery tour, on a cool rainy fall morning, I began to feel as though the event was part of a media attention distraction, that was created to steal the headlines from the history that was just made days ago, by The Men Of Color Having Answers Foundation (M.O.C.H.A.).
My concerns about the true agenda of Clemson University regarding the timing of the seemingly rushed Cemetery tours, were confirmed after conducting my own research and discovering that the cemetery tours idea, was nothing more than a recycled event, that had previously taken place in the past.
According to the documentation provided below, over 30 years ago, cemetery tours were held at Woodland Cemetery (Cemetery Hill). Clemson University was also well aware of the Unidentified persons that were buried at the cemetery, well over three decades ago when the cemetery tours were first held.
“Before I could even realize it, I felt like I had been used and cheated by the very same institution that once once Enslaved my ancestors and made a fortune off of them. Clemson University, the very same school that never efficiently gave back, nor have they acknowledged the impactful efforts of The Men Of Color Having Answers Foundation.”
My ancestors were enslaved at Clemson University well past the date of the emancipation.
Pictured below (left) is my grandmother Mary Legree, who was born over 20 years past the emancipation, in the mid 1880s. Below you see, even as a middle-aged grown woman, she is still Enslaved at Clemson University (formerly Clemson College). Clemson publications have written about my family’s struggles of enslavement for decades now, while never once giving back.
Pictured below (right) is my grandmother, Nancy Washington Legree, born in 1836, and despite being enslaved the majority of her life, she lived to be 105 years old. Infamously known as Grandma Nan, she miraculously worked until, only a few days shy of her death.
This feature shows you visual proof that since the establishment of Clemson University, that my ancestors have been exploited and forced to work without receiving payment, while providing free labor to the elite at Clemson University for decades after freedom had came and gone.
Clemson has never given back to me, my foundation, or any of my organizations efforts to honor African American heritage in the Clemson area.
In fact, after discovering a way to honor a formerly enslaved African American woman in late 2020, Clemson University was absent of any ideas, plans, or interests in honoring African Americans. After I exemplified the ability to create impactful change by naming the bridge; instead of working with me, Clemson University avoided me and refused to include me or my organization into any discussions of honoring.
Truthfully, it was the inspiration that I first provided, by the naming of the bridge which motivated Clemson University to seek out ways to honor African Americans of the past.
Instead of Clemson University considering the effective ideas that I had offered to them, they spent millions of dollars searching for people with ideas that would honor African Americans. Finally, after two years of searching, Clemson University would release intentions of building a heritage trail in honor of African Americans figures. However, as of Labor Day 2023, there aren’t any known plans to honor the memory of one of the the very first enslaved at John C. Calhoun’s Fort Hill Plantation, in Clemson, SC.
My ancestors were enslaved for over 50 years past the emancipation at Clemson. The positive created Clemson University. The negative, created generational poverty. This is why The M.O.C.H.A. Foundation needs your support to recover from the enslavement of my ancestors just 100 years ago.
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