Thread by @dyllyp

In 1732—133 years before #Juneteenth—my ancestor Joseph Pettifer killed his slavemaster, John Pettifer, with the help of John’s wife, Anne. They fled but were both caught, tried, and executed. This is a transcript from the Governor of North Carolina’s records:

Decades later, 3 of Joseph Pettifer’s grandchildren—William, George, and Phillip—fought during the American Revolution in exchange for their freedom. #Juneteenth

Nearly a century later, and only a few months before #Juneteenth:

https://twitter.com/dyllyp/status/1112429905256472576

Less than two decades after #Juneteenth, my ancestor William Pettiford opened the First Colored Baptist Church of Birmingham, which would later be renamed the 16th Street Baptist Church. Yes, that 16th Street Baptist Church.

Only 9 years after the KKK bombed the 16th Street Baptist church, my grandfather, Joseph Pettiford was murdered by the KKK in Texas only a few miles from the original #Juneteenth site. Because he married a white woman after returning home from Vietnam.

And now it’s 2022, and I, Dylan Park-Pettiford, am contributing absolutely nothing to society and disgracing my family name lol.

I’m gonna be in Heaven telling my ancestors about the time I got suspended from Twitter for a week for calling Donald Trump a cracker ass cracker.