BELOW THE WAIST WITH SLAVE EUGENE. SKIN
BELOW THE WAIST WITH SLAVE EUGENE. FULL

BELOW THE WAIST WITH SLAVE EUGENE. SKIN

Many others possessed darker skin and curly hair. Sources note that many of the Malagasy people possessed light skin and facial features very akin to people in Southeast Asia and Indonesia. Madagascar’s inhabitants are called the Malagasy people, and they speak a language by that name. Gomez describes how those particular Africans were “yellowish” in complexion and had hair like a “Madagascar’s.” In Exchanging Our Country Mark, Michael Gomez wrote about the connection between “Madagascar Negroes” to Virginia a small number of them were imported into Virginia during the early years of the transatlantic slave trade (p. A fourth researcher, Monifaa, also communicated the following, “My mom’s oldest brother has alleged to me that my ggg-grandmother was captured by slavers from the island of Madagascar and sold to cotton plantation owners in North Carolina.” Researcher Tracey Hughes discusses the discovery of her Madagascar ancestor in her blog post. Shortly afterwards, another poster in the AfriGeneas African-Native American Genealogy Forum soon wrote, “An elderly cousin told the story of my ggg-grandfather who was from a royal family of Madagascar Africa that was taken as a slave out of Madagascar Africa on a slave ship.” A third poster also recounted oral history of her ancestor being brought to Virginia from Madagascar. The sounds of the names were almost phonetically identical. Being one of the largest islands in the world, Madagascar is roughly the size of Texas. I began to associate the name “Malagascan” and “Molly Gasca” with Madagascar, an island located 250 miles off the southeastern African coast of Mozambique in the Indian Ocean. The folks said Old Miss was jealous of her and Old Master. Her hair it was fine as silk and hung down below her waist. She sure did look different from any the rest of us. When my grandma died she was one hundred and ten years old. James Brittain of Mississippi relayed the following in his slave narrative about his grandmother:

BELOW THE WAIST WITH SLAVE EUGENE. FULL

Another poster commented, “My mother’s father always described his mother as being a full blooded Malagaskan Indian woman with long black hair down her back.” I even found a slave narrative of a man who also claimed this heritage. Several years ago, I read a post on the AfriGeneas African-Native American Genealogy Forum board of someone seeking information on the “Matagascan / Malagascan / Matogascan Creek Indians” because family lore claimed that her great-great-grandmother was from this “Indian” tribe. How sure are you that your family’s alleged Native American ancestry was really Native American?

Below the waist with slave eugene.