Marty Gordon
Wake Forest Baptist Church (1886 McCoy Road) in Blacksburg is hosting a program this weekend to remember the enslaved individuals who helped make Blacksburg’s Smithfield Plantation into what we know today. Kerri Moseley-Hobbs, a descendant of the Fraction family that played a role in the founding of the plantation, will speak at 3 p.m. tomorrow, Sunday Feb. 24 on slave life at Smithfield and her family’s Nigerian roots.
Kerri Moseley-Hobbs
The third-generation granddaughter of Thomas Fraction, Moseley-Hobbs, who is from Baltimore, has written a book entitled: “More than a Fraction,” based on a true story of her family. She spent two years researching the Fraction family and much of what she learned is what they endured and what they share with other descendants.
“I refer to them as ‘enslaved people’ not slaves,” Moseley-Hobbs recently said. “Slavery was a condition. It wasn’t their whole identity. They were people. They told stories, danced, shared recipes and practiced customs that originated in their native land.”
One of her descendants, Ginny Fraction, is buried in the Preston Family Cemetery on the grounds of the Smithfield Plantation. A cabin on the property where the family lived has also been recently dedicated.
In her book, Moseley-Hobbs takes a look at the Fraction family’s heritage, the early voyage to America, and its enslavement until the Civil War, when brothers, Thomas and Othello, ran for freedom by joining the Union Army. Their names are now engraved on a War Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C. Mosley-Hobbs’ book follows their journey and, after the war, their fight for rights and inclusion.
The Prestons, who were the original owners of Smithfield, were the wealthiest family in Virginia at the time. An estimated 100 African individuals helped to build the house, care for children and grow crops.
Many of Smithfield’s first enslaved people came from Africa on a slave ship called “True Blue.” The research, according to Moseley-Hobbs, also showed the ship had been purchased by William Preston.
She also has a collection of African art and musical instruments, which could have been used by the family during that time.
Since researching the book, Moseley-Hobbs has joined the Smithfield-Preston Foundation’s Board of Trustees.
Sunday’s talk is sponsored by the Wake Forest youth ministry and is free and open to the public.