Oral History
Due to the content of my research, I found it challenging to pick and appropriate family member to interview. Isaac Ross’s story is so unique and old that it is difficult to find someone that can provide insight about him.
I chose my mom, Lisa, because I knew her parents were history and genealogy junkies while they were alive. It is my mom that is related to Isaac Ross. She is the reason our house has a portrait of him. Maybe she knows a thing or two about him.
Here is the transcription from my interview
Neal: Hello hello. So you know why you’re here. I’m going to start out with a few rapid fire questions so others can understand a little bit more about you.
Neal: What’s your name?
Lisa: Elizabeth Frazer Neal Allen
Neal: But you go by Lisa?
Lisa: Correct.
Neal: What’s your hometown?
Lisa: I live in Atlanta, Georgia now, but I was born in Rome, Georgia.
Neal: Where did you go to school, both highschool and college?
Lisa: I went to Darlington School in Rome, and then I went to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for college and Georgia State University for my masters
Neal: Where are your parents from?
Lisa: My mother was originally from New Orleans, Louisiana and my father was from Atlanta, Georgia.
Neal: How would you describe your mother?
Lisa: My mother was old school.
Neal: Old School?
Lisa: She was born in the depression, and she had very strong manners and a very strong work ethic. Well she didn’t work, but she had that depression mentality. She wanted to save everything. She cared about money, she wanted to make sure everything was of value, and she was a lady.
Neal: What about your Father?
Lisa: He was a gentleman (chuckles). He was also from the depression, and he was a man of charity. He was an entrepreneur that worked lots of different jobs. He was a wheeler and dealer kind of person. He was very charming and very friendly.
Neal: Is there anything you can you say about your parent’s parents or ancestors?
Lisa: My… Both of my grandfathers were dead before I was born so I did not know them, but both of my grandmothers who, one was born in 1900 and the other 1903, were very involved in our lives because both of my parents were only childs. Uhh they were also both what I consider typical southern ladies. As debutantes growing up in that sort of world. Their ancestors… Genealogy was very important to both of my parents, and so we have a lot of family portraits, a lot of history. Family trees where we know who all of our relatives are. My mother could trace her relatives back to the signing of the Magna Carta.
Neal: So around the 13th century?
Lisa: Yes
Neal: It would have been nice to interview your mom for this….
Lisa: Mhmmm she would have been a better person than me.
Neal: So for the meat of my project, does the name Isaac Ross or the last name Ross mean anything to you?
Lisa: Yes that is definitely on my father’s side of the family. Ross was a name that carried down for several generations I think. I know my grandmother’s middle name was Ross before she got married. She was Pauline Ross Ware.
Neal: Before telling you a couple months back at the start of this project, were you aware that we had a portrait of Isaac Ross in our house?
Lisa: I knew we had a portrait. I will be truthful. I wasn’t sure exactly who it was even though it’s written on the back.
Neal: Are you aware of the lingering conflict in Liberia?
Lisa: In Liberia?
Neal: Yes ma’am (laughs)
Lisa: I’m not sure exactly. Is it about the slaves? Political? Yeah I’m not sure if I know the lingering conflict in Liberia. What’s the lingering conflict in Liberia? You want to tell me?
Neal: Sure yeah to summarize the story, the reason Isaac Ross has such a fascinating story is that at his death he released all of his slaves and liquidated his property in order to pay for these freed slaves to journey back to Africa.
Lisa: Really? Go guy!
Neal: Right? That’s why it’s a cool story, but wait it gets better. The unintended result was that these freed slaves enslaved the natives of Liberia. Although they were the definitive minority, these “Americo Liberians” ruled the country. This created tensions in Liberia for over a century until a bloody coup occurred that overthrew them. This then resulted in decades of Civil War for power.
Lisa: So was it just Isaac Ross’s slaves or was it many slaves?
Neal: There were others, but there were records that some of Isaac Ross’s slaves had enslaved others.
Lisa: Interesting. Okay no I had no clue about that. I mean I know that Liberia has always, well not always, but certainly in the last many decades had many civil wars and has not had an easy time. But I didn’t realize it was due to that. I just knew there were different tribes.
Neal: So based on the aftermath of this story, what are your thoughts on Isaac Ross as person? Did he do anything wrong?
Lisa: No. I think he did a good thing. It’s not his fault the freed slaves went and did what they did
Neal: I agree.
Lisa: But I think how wonderful that he recognized in a time when people didn’t understand that slavery was wrong. And I’m not saying he shouldn’t have but it was such a cultural norm people didn’t understand that slavery was not a good thing and for him to realize that, again going against what the rest of his family had done, is pretty impressive.
Neal: I agree.
Neal: Well thank you
Lisa: Is that it?
Neal: Yeah. I told you it wouldn’t take too long
Lisa: (chuckles) Well I’m happy to help. Thank you for sharing this story.
Following the interview, it turned out she did not know about the Isaac Ross’s story or his connection to Liberia, but she at least recognized the Ross name. She was fascinated by the story and made me retell it to the rest of my family later that day at a Thanksgiving dinner. The interview gave me insight about the character of my maternal grandparents. There appeared to be similarities between my grandfather and his great-great-great grandfather Isaac Ross. Both were southern men that were hardworking and successful, yet also charitable.
The most important result of the interview in my opinion is that it fueled me to share a story with my family that we can all relate to and discuss moving forward. I am glad I found a story that is such a hidden gem that can bring us together in conversation.
