Every place has a history.
Sometimes that history is inspiring. Sometimes it is painful. Often, it is both.
As Highlands Community Ministries marks 40 years of serving children and families at our Eastern Star campus, we believe celebrating this place also means being honest about its past. Through our participation in Bearing Witness, an initiative of the (Un)Known Project, we are committing to tell the fuller history of this property, including its connection to enslavement.
We are honored to share this reflection from Hannah L. Drake. Through her work as a writer, public historian, and artist, Hannah invites communities to engage honestly with the history of enslavement and to remember the people whose lives have too often been omitted from the places they helped build, shape, and sustain.
Her words remind us that history is not simply a collection of dates, buildings, or events. It is the story of people whose names, dignity, and humanity deserve to be remembered. As an organization committed to caring for our neighbors, we believe that telling the full story of this place is one way we honor those who came before us while serving those who are here today.
Learn more about Bearing Witness at unknownprojecttrail.com
Over the years, I have spent countless hours reading through wills, inventories, estate sales, tax records, and handwritten documents searching for names. Not any one name, but names that have been disregarded, overlooked, and often listed alongside other property such as silverware and furnishings.
These are the names of enslaved people whose history often failed to value enough to remember, beyond listing them with a price. However, sometimes buried in documents, you will find a name. Such was the case when Highland Community Ministries dug into the history of their building located at 923 Cherokee Road, which was formerly occupied by Henry J. Craycroft.
Craycroft operated a small farm and supplied produce to the city. Records indicate that Craycroft enslaved at least four people in 1850 and fifteen by 1860. From this research, one name emerged: Sam, whom Craycroft listed in the newspaper in 1853, seeking his capture after Sam had escaped to seek his freedom.
Aside from that name, we do not know much about Sam, but we can ascertain that, because he was seeking his freedom, he envisioned a life free from bondage. He envisioned a life where he would be free to come and go as he desired and make his own choices. It allows us to understand that enslaved people were not passively waiting for freedom to arrive, but they were active participants in their liberation.
Just that small glimpse of Sam in a newspaper article allows us to gather a piece of history and apply it to today. That one name allows us to understand that our freedom and our liberation will not roll in on the wheels of inevitability. But it is something that we will have to actively seek and fight for.
That is the beauty of history. It allows us to gather lessons and apply them to today.
History offers us a chance to look back and right past wrongs.
History allows us to learn about people like Sam and many others who chose to seek freedom, no matter the cost.
We stand as witnesses to Sam and the 14 other people enslaved by Henry J. Craycroft. We stand as witnesses to say, “We see you. You were here. You existed. You are not forgotten.”
That is what (Un)Known Project’s Bearing Witness initiative is about. It is about understanding that some wounds are so deep that they require witnesses to heal. It requires witnesses to affirm, to remember, and to honor lives that many in history counted as unimportant. But their stories matter, and their lives mattered. And we believe by remembering them and the spaces they helped build, cultivate, and curate, we move closer to a fuller understanding of our shared history. By bearing witness, we honor not only their labor but also their humanity. And in doing so, we ensure they are not forgotten.
-Hannah L. Drake, co-founder (Un)Known Project
