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Ann Pettiford Medley

Ann Medley.jpg
Ann Medley, 1999
Ann Medley as a young woman.jpg
Ann Pettiford (later Medley)
Ann Medley.jpg
Ann Medley as a young woman.jpg

Dates: 1918–2012

Family: Hemings, Madison

Residence (at time of interview): Chillicothe, OH

Ann Pettiford Medley grew up in Greenfield, Ohio.  She and her husband, Cecil Medley, raised five children and worked in the catering and food services field.  It was her daughter Patti Jo Harding who began to research the family history and enlisted the help of her cousin Diana Redman and Getting Word consultant Beverly Gray.  Mother and daughter were present at Getting Word’s first interview in Chillicothe in 1993.  Ann Medley remembers Sunday visits to her grandmother Anna Young Pettiford, some of whose siblings passed into the white world, cutting ties with the family.

Interview Information

28 Dec. 1993, Chillicothe, OH
Interviewees: George (Jack) Pettiford, Jacqueline Pettiford, Ann Medley, Patti Jo Harding, Tony Medley

28 Oct. 1999, Chillicothe, OH
Interviewee: Ann Pettiford Medley

Excerpts

(video)
"They didn't talk much"

Ann Medley recalls that her elders rarely discussed the family connection to Monticello.

Theme: Oral History Transmission

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(audio)
"In your mind you just go back"

George "Jack" Pettiford and Ann Medley describe visiting Monticello and thinking about their ancestors' lives on the plantation.

Theme: Monticello

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(audio)
"You'd get it from both ways"

Ann Medley, George "Jack" Pettiford and Patti Jo Harding discuss having their race called into question by both African Americans and whites.

Themes: Racial Identity, Racial Prejudice

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(audio)
"They don't even know"

Ann Medley, George "Jack" Pettiford, and Patti Jo Harding discuss relatives who have passed as white and no longer acknowledge their African American heritage.

Theme: Racial Identity

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Transcript:

 

 

(video)
"Your own race is against you"

Ann Medley describes black children taunting her at school because of her light skin.

Themes: Racial Identity, Racial Prejudice

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Ancestry

  • Elizabeth Hemings 1735–1807
    John Wayles
    1715–1773
  •  
  • Sally Hemings 1773–1835
  •  
  • Madison Hemings 1805–1877
  •  
  • Sarah Hemings Byrd 1835–1884
  •  
  • Ann Pettiford Medley 1918–2012

Related People

  • George Pettiford  brother
  • Patti Jo Medley Harding  daughter
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