@time

In an adapted excerpt from her new book “South to America,” @imaniperry recounts what it was like searching for her answers about her enslaved ancestor. “Inexact borders aside, what holds is this: we came before America was America,” Perry wrote. “This woman who bore the name either of my favorite biblical queen or my favorite holiday was here, not as an accomplice to the settler colony, but as the victim of its displacement and captivity.” “She was a witness to the very exclusions that laid the foundation for the creation of a national identity. It is a remarkable status.” Read more about Perry’s experience at the link in our bio. Photo-Illustration by Billie Carter-Rankin (@billiecarter_) for TIME (Source Photo: Library of Congress)

February 08, 2022