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LETTERS: I Wish to Honor the First Great Black American in the High Country

Dear Editor:

February is Black History Month.  Proportionately, there are as many great Black citizens as there are White or Asian. Those of us in the High Country do not have to search outside our own territory to find such people.  They are living among us now and some have passed on. As a representative of all great Black Americans, I wish to honor the first great Black American in the High Country.  He was a founding iconic pioneer, Burrell (c.1745-1845).

Burrell was the “Joseph of His People” for his time and place.  Like Joseph, son of Jacob, Burrell was enslaved through no fault of his own. In spite of that, he rose to become honored and loved within his community by both Black and White races as evidenced by the protection they accorded him even when he was a very old, economically useless man, and with the oral and written legacy in his wake.

Slavery has been an unfortunate culturally accepted part of all races for thousands of years and is not specific to the America created by White Europeans. Its preponderance does not make it justifiable.    However, practiced by a people who claimed to adhere to the Declaration of Independence’s mantra of “all men are created equal” and a society based on the Judeo-Christian beliefs of “love thy neighbor,” it does seem to be even more egregious 

Burrell was enslaved by Benjamin Howard, a modest plantation owner from Happy Valley.   Entrusted with Howard’s livestock to shepherd in the High Country, Burrell knew the High Country well and led hunters to the area including Howard’s neighbor, Daniel Boone.

In addition to being a pioneer, a scout and a shepherd, Burrell became an astute weatherman by observing the stars, the sky and nature.  Most remarkably, he was a prophet: he foretold the end of slavery in America.  

Let us honor Burrell and all the known and unknown Black souls by resolving to love one another and treat everyone with dignity and respect.

Sincerely,

Mary E. Moretz