Retracing the steps of their ancestors

What It Covers

Three Black Americans retrace ancestral paths to understand slavery's legacy: Joseph McGill sleeps in slave dwellings across 25 states, B.A. Parker visits her family's plantation, and Charles Blow proposes reverse migration to consolidate Southern political power.

Key Questions Answered

• •Slave Dwelling Project: Joseph McGill has stayed overnight in 150 slave dwellings across 25 states to force preservation and acknowledgment of enslaved people's spaces. Many structures survive as pool houses or man caves, with owners unaware or unwilling to recognize their history.
• •Northern Slavery Erasure: Twelve U.S. presidents owned slaves, eight while in office. Northern states resist acknowledging their slavery history, preferring Underground Railroad narratives. Enslaved people often lived in attics and basements, making these spaces harder to identify and preserve than Southern plantation structures.
• •Georgia Political Model: Black population growth from 25% in the 1990s to 33% in 2020 helped flip Georgia from red to blue. This demonstrates how demographic concentration can shift state power, requiring hundreds of thousands of people moving to Mississippi, Georgia, or the Carolinas.
• •State Power Strategy: Southern cities contain most thriving Black middle class communities, not Northern cities. Black poverty rates in New York City match Mississippi's rates. Capturing a governor's seat provides veto power, the first step toward meaningful political influence over education, policing, and economic policy.