Margo Lee Williams

Miles Lassiter (Circa 1777-1850): an Early African-american Quaker from Lassiter Mill, Randolph County, North Carolina: My Research Journey to Home Margo Lee Williams

Although antebellum African Americans were sometimes allowed to attend Quaker services, they were almost never admitted to full "meeting" membership, as was Miles Lassiter. His story illuminates the unfolding of the 19th-century color line into the 20th. It reminds us that, while traditional texts recount grand events, true history tells of everyday people who do extraordinary things quietly, not even realizing that they have left their mark. Margo Williams had only a handful of stories and a few names her mother remembered from her childhood about her family's home in Asheboro, North Carolina. Her research would soon help her to make contact with long lost relatives and a pilgrimage "home" with her mother in 1982. Little did she know she would discover a large loving family and a Quaker ancestor--a Black Quaker ancestor. This story follows her research journey through records and Carolina countryside as she uncovers her roots.