Finding Mirriam 1850 America's Lost Cause
In this film, I reframe the narrative of the Civil War and Chattle slavery. I bring attention to largely unspoken topics pertaining to chattel slavery, reparations, wealth-gap, genealogy and mysterious mistresses on slave plantations.
In addition, I touch on wider topics such as the impact of the Church and motivation of the Civil War. In all, I visited eight plantations, but one in particular, Mimosa Hall in the city of Leigh, Texas in Harrison County became especially interesting.
Here, I find that my ancestor, Mirriam Williams is buried next to her master ,John J. Webster, owner of Mimosa Hall. the one of the wealthiest slave owner in Texas at the time. I dive deep into his ownership and the significance of her placement and my family history. She only lived to be 26 years old and never received freedom.