Mill Swamp

TO THOSE WHO CAME BEFORE ME

I appreciate the sacrifices you made ... ancestors and family who came over on slave ships (Margaret, Jenny, Elizabeth and Clatham) by way of Londontowne and toiled on the plantations and mansions in Southern Anne Arundel County, Maryland.

Ancestors and family who worked as slaves and died young; the sharecroppers, field hands, maids and butlers, laborers, midwives, carpenters and tradesmen, the watermen and oyster shuckers, those who peddled their wares on wagons and trucks - fish, fruit and vegetables (the first food trucks) the preachers and teachers who taught with only crude pencils and slate boards, but produced statesmen, doctors and lawyers.

I've felt the heavy chains and toured the dwellings, shacks and mansions. I've walked the fields, seen the high and low cotton harvests where my people did back-breaking work on the never-ending rows. Throughout the years, God has allowed me to stay here. I've felt your spirit and cried about your pain. You prayed for freedom and I received it. My personal journey, short stories and observations serve as a testament to that strong spirit that still resides in Mill Swamp.

It is my duty to continue this journey (to portray through these short stories written as historical fiction) so my children will know who their people were and know that what our ancestors built and created here in Mill Swamp serves as a testament to the human spirit. This pledge is what I hand to family - my children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, nieces, nephews, cousins and all who come after me. I only wish that, in my youth, I had listened closer to their voices, to the oral histories they loved to share, but I thank God that their spirit is embedded within me until the end.

I am a proud Millswampian.

Peace be with you,

Nelsa Downs Brown