West Ford Was in the House

 

West Ford Was in the House

Making the Case for the African American Descendants of George Washington

 

by Wendy Robinson
August/September 2001

In the late 1940s, scattered rumors began to circulate, stating that George Washington had fathered a son, West Ford, with a mulatto slave named Venus. Almost 60 years later, in 1999, major newspapers such as the New York Times and the Chicago Tribune, as well as broadcast programs including the CBS Morning Show and PBS Frontline, had featured the African American family who claimed to be Washington’s descendants. According to the Ford family, their ancestor, West Ford, was the illegitimate son of the nation’s first president – a 200-year-old secret that should be kept secret no longer. To that end, Ford descendant Linda Allen Bryant has written a book introducing her intriguing family history to the world.

“I Cannot Tell a Lie: The True Story of George Washington’s African American Descendants” details the secret oral history that has been passed down and closely guarded through six generations of Ford family members. Author Linda Allen Bryant says she novelized her family’s compelling story for a variety of reasons – among them, a desire to answer the questions that arise when people first hear her family claim to the Washington bloodline.Bryant says that writing their history as a novel allowed her to imagine the circumstances under which George Washington and Venus, West Ford’s mother, might have gotten together. “Our oral history tells us that Venus named George Washington as West’s father, but of course it does not detail the particulars of his conception,” Bryant explains.

Not surprisingly, there is no official documentation detailing the paternity of West Ford. A registry of Washington slaves identifies the woman Venus as Ford’s mother, but lists no one as his father. While not unusual the coincidence is significant, says Bryant.

“It is common knowledge that White men used Black women for sexual purposes,” she said. “The notion of a slave fathered by a white man is not exactly far-fetched. Washington was a man of his times.”

Those who oppose the Ford story are often quick to point out that the slave Venus belonged to Hannah Washington, not her brother-in-law George, and that historians have accounted for the way George Washington spent much of his time. Bryant contends that what historians think they know about Washington’s schedule does not preclude his having had a sexual liaison with a slave, no matter who owned that slave.

It is a controversial claim that has many Washington supporters rushing to defend his honor. “Washington was the father of his country – only” one editorial headline has declared, in response to the Ford story. Meanwhile, the Mount Vernon Ladies Association maintains the opinion that Washington deserves to have his reputation remain “unblemished.” However, Linda Allen Bryant and her family remain unmoved. And going public with their story is a more a ritual of pride to the descendants of West Ford than a bid for public acceptance of his alleged paternity. Still, Bryant believes the tale of her family tree is bigger than the search for its roots. She says it’s a part of American history that a nation grappling with race relations will have to deal with, sooner or later. After all, what better symbol of the country’s shared history than the living, multiracial descendants of the nation’s first president?

The Ford family’s identity as such is a difficult claim to prove. Unlike the Jefferson-Hemings case, to which this case is most often compared, the proper DNA contributors are not in place to determine the Ford family’s origins, one way or the other. No Washington male of the male line has currently come forward, and the location of West Ford’s ancient remains are unknown, adding another mysterious element to an already complex case. But while nothing official or scientific states Washington’s paternal ties to Ford, Bryant and her kin have amassed a wealth of information to support their claim, much of it collected in the doctoral dissertation of a cousin, Judith Saunders-Burton of Gum Springs, Virginia. Ironically, Bryant’s family was united with this cousin, and her exhaustive research, through the oral storytelling tradition started in the Ford family by their great-great-great-great grandmother Venus.

In 1985, Bryant’s family’s attention was called to a short piece in the National Enquirer, asking who would be on the throne today if George Washington had become king instead of president. The story named a Dr. Judith Saunders-Burton, an African-American woman living in Virginia, as a “surprise contender” for the American throne. Burton also claimed a direct relationship to George Washington through West Ford, whom she described as the “love child” of the first president and a slave woman. Bryant, who had not heard of Burton before, met with her and compared stories. They discovered that their respective ancestors, William and John, were both sons of West Ford. To their delight, the women realized that they came from different branches of the same family tree.

These previously unacquainted descendants of West Ford were strengthened by their newfound alliance. Oral tradition had not only preserved their heritage, but worked to reunite the family. Theirs is one of the stories detailed in “I Cannot Tell a Lie,” Linda Allen Bryant’s book.

The novel provides an accessible format through which the Ford family history might be considered, while offering exposure to the many sociopolitical issues surround their provocative story. And though George Washington’s role as progenitor to the Ford family is pivotal, his role in Bryant’s book is minor, and his character only appears briefly in a few chapters. Bryant says her intention is not to denigrate George Washington in any way. “Read the book,” she says, “and you’ll find out that this is a book best described by its title.” “I Cannot Tell a Lie: The True Story of George Washington’s African American Descendants” details the life and legacy of West Ford, a man who determined to live a life of dignity and compassion, in spite of the “mystery” of his paternity. West Ford used the land he inherited from the Washington family to help settle newly freed, homeless African Americans after the Civil War. The enclave became the free Black community of Gum Springs, Virginia, which still exists as a suburb of Alexandria today. Ford married and passed on to his children the love of freedom and family that marked his character – as well as the secret his mother had whispered to him when he was a young boy, that George Washington was his father.

The Ford offspring proved to be a clan of freedom fighters. Among the progeny are abolitionists, a decorated Buffalo Soldier, and the first Black woman publisher and editor of a newspaper in Illinois. Through the years, the Ford family faithfully kept the secret of their heritage for fear of reprisals. But changing times have resulted in a change of tactics for this proud family. It is time, they say, for the world to know who they are.

“There is no longer any excuse for the history of people of color to be censored,” says Linda Allen Bryant. “We have to preserve our own legacies. We have to make our voices heard.” In addition to restoring the visibility of her ancestor, West Ford, Bryant says her book gives people the chance to decide for themselves whether or not they believe that Washington planted the Ford family tree. Their claim challenges two centuries of documented national history that records George Washington as a childless man. Is the story of West Ford one of history’s hidden chapters? Not anymore, says Bryant. “I Cannot Tell a Lie” sets the record straight.

Authors Note: I Cannot Tell a Lie: the True Story of George Washington’s African American Descendants (ISBN: 0-595-17878-2) is available now through Iuniverse, Barnes and Noble, Amazon and Borders Books. For more information, visit the West Ford website at http://www.westfordlegacy.com.

 

Copyright © 2001 The Multiracial Activist. All rights reserved.