And finally, before I turn in (I started turning in a while ago before my thoughts turned toward my Texan roots, as always), I have to end the first #juneteenth national “holiday” recognizing my beloved (beyond imagination - we were very close) grandmother, Mamie Bell Abernathy (nee Tyson/Mitchell), her brother Elaska Tyson, and their parents Virginia “Gun” Samuella Baugus and Robert S Tyson (though my grandmother often used Mitchell as her maiden name, he was her stepfather). Cass County, Texas. My great-grandmother “Gun” was the daughter of Lydia Wiley and white slaveholder Bryant “Major” Baugus. My great-grandmother evidently helped take care of her father in his old age, and he left her some property when he died, though the oral history (which is likely now illegal in Texas, though my mother had firsthand knowledge bc her grandmother lived with them when she was growing up) is that her white siblings coerced her to sign over her rights when they visited my great-grandmother while my grandparents were at work. This land is in the Rodessa oil basin on the Texas/Louisiana border. Luckily great-uncle Elaska retained land in Bivins, and my second cousins, the Tysons, have maintained a homestead area for the whole Tyson/Durden/Rambo, etc clan. Looking forward to attending the virtual reunion on July 3. #juneteenthdescendant #blacktexans #intheheartoftexas #americanhistory #juneteenth https://www.instagram.com/p/CQVPs6mHSp1/?utm_medium=tumblr