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Holly Springscasino games that pay real money with no deposit, Miss., a city of 7,000 residents, lies 56 miles southeast of Memphis. It was once a lively center of the cotton trade, and as I recently learned from a newfound cousin, it is also where my enslaved ancestors lived. When I was a child, I knew my great-grandfather on my mother’s side, and I have decades of memories, stories and photographic evidence of my Jewish maternal family. My Black paternal family has always been more of a mystery. I’ve never known my father, so I was thrilled when several years ago I obtained a family tree that dates back to 1824 — and even more excited when my cousin claimed to know specifically where our ancestors had lived. On a recent business trip to Memphis, I flew in early so that I could explore Holly Springs in search of my ancestral home. My first stop was City Hall, where I tried, to no avail, to find relevant public records. Then I met up with Jamie, a friend who lived in the area, and we set out on a drive. I was hoping my cousin would text me with more detail, but my phone remained quiet. Through the car window I kept seeing signs for a local tourist attraction, the Ida B. Wells Museum. Soon we passed a small building that had a sign out front reading, simply, “Museum.” We got out of the car and walked toward the entryway. From inside, a voice belted out an inquisitive hello. Bright sunlight filled the tall windows, illuminating a layer of dust on the glass countertops. The silence of the place made it feel more like a private home than a museum. In a city with a majority Black population, and in a museum dedicated to its most celebrated figure — the Black educator and journalist Ida B. Wells — I was surprised to find that the proprietor was a white man. Then I scolded myself, attempting to shake off my New York City biases, and I jumped into my well-rehearsed mission statement. We are having trouble retrieving the article content. Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. Already a subscriber? Log in. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.casino games that pay real money with no deposit |