Rural black history - 'the whole story'

By Glenda S. Jenkins, News-Leader Rather than spend a lot of time talking about it, William Jefferson placed his family history on tables all around the room."The artifacts do a lot of the speaking for me," Jefferson said. "That's another way to remember your family history because everything has a story."Jefferson presented his family story to an audience at the Peck Community Center in Fernandina Beach last month. Gloria Jean Thomas and Howard Alderman joined Jefferson to talk about the black families who established communities in Yulee and Lessie.Jefferson's family artifacts include photographs, old advertising posters, farming tools, pottery, dishes, a chipped sap bucket from a turpentine still and a shoe cobbler's tool. All these objects reflect the Hooper family life and history in Nassau County."If you took these objects to an antique shop, they probably wouldn't be worth much," Jefferson said. "But they're worth something to me because they belonged to my family." Full Story: http://www.fbnewsleader.com/articles/2005/03/20/news/03newshistory.txt