Wesorts

Last updated
Wesorts
Brandywine deme
Edward Augustine Savoy cropped.jpg
Edward Augustine Savoy, former Chief Messenger to the Secretary of State. [1]
Total population
750-3000 [2] (1950, est.)
Regions with significant populations
Prince George's and Charles Counties, Maryland
Languages
English
Religion
Catholicism [2]
Related ethnic groups
Melungeons, Carmelites, Dominickers, Lumbee, Chestnut Ridge people, Brass Ankles, Free Black people, Free people of color

Wesorts (also We-Sorts), also known as "Brandywine people" or "Brandywine deme", [3] is a name for a mixed-race [4] group of free Black descent in Maryland, some of whom claim to be descended from the Piscataway people. [5] The term is regarded as derogatory [6] and a pejorative [7] [3] [8] by some. Wesorts prefer being called Brandywine people, a name that references the Prince George's and Charles County line where the majority of the group have historically resided. [7] [3] Historian Frank Sweet lists "Wesorts" as among a group of "derogatory epithets given by mainstream society, not self-labels". [9] "Wesort" was listed as a self-identified "Other race" on the 2000 United States census. [10] Many individuals with the surnames Proctor, Swann, Savoy, Newman, Harley, Butler and Thompson comprise the group, documented to be descending from free Black progenitors. [3] [5]

Contents

History

Modern genealogical analysis traces the Brandywine people as originating from free people of color, in this case freed slaves from Tidewater Virginia and the free offspring of slaves and white women. [5] From 1702 to 1720, all but one of the court convictions in Charles County for illegitimate children were from women with core Brandywine surnames. [11] Many free Black people with these surnames began living in the District of Columbia later in the century, often descending from white women, which they would often use to prove their freedom. [12]

19th century to present

In 1865, Oswell Swann, a free Black man of Brandywine lineage, was paid to be a guide for John Wilkes Booth during his escape. [13] [14] He later informed to Union soldiers. [15] By 1950, Brandywine people were recorded to attend both white and colored schools, and sat in the pews behind white people at church, while black people sat in the balcony. Some were noted to be living in Washington D.C. and Baltimore by this time. [2] Some of them had made up the free African-American population working for the government, such as Edward Augustine Savoy, whose parents had both worked for Hamilton Fish before he hired him in 1869. [16] In 1944, a ship was named after Savoy as part of a WW2 initiative to celebrate outstanding African-Americans. [17]

In 1990, James E. Proctor Jr. of the Proctor family was elected as the delegate for District 27A, which represents the Brandywine area, and was a member of the Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland. [18] [3] His wife Susie Proctor, also a Proctor, became the delegate for the same district after his death. [18] [19] [20]

State recognized tribes

Photograph of a 2012 Piscataway tribal recognition ceremony by the State of Maryland in Annapolis with Governor Martin O'Malley. Piscataway Indian Nation And The Piscataway Conoy Tribe Officially Recognized By Governor Martin O'Malley And State Of Maryland In Annapolis On January 9, 2012 II Flickr.jpg
Photograph of a 2012 Piscataway tribal recognition ceremony by the State of Maryland in Annapolis with Governor Martin O'Malley.

In the year 2000, representatives of the Piscataway Conoy Provisional Tribal Council, one of the groups made up of Brandywine people self-identifying as descending from the historical Piscataway people, informed local media that they had requested that the Smithsonian Institution repatriate the remains of about 500 Piscataway people between 1935 and 1939 to their council but faced difficulty due to their unrecognized status, and due to there being multiple groups. A representative of the Smithsonian's Repatriation Review Committee stated that while they try to interpret the National Museum of the American Indian Act of 1989 broadly, a law that favors federally recognized tribes, the Piscataway issue had not yet been addressed by the committee. [21] State officials stated in 2000 that "most of the about 25,000 American Indians who live in Maryland are Piscataway." They have split into three entities due to disagreements. [21]

In literature

Wayne Karlin's novel The Wished For Country (2002) represents the origins and struggles of the Wesorts as a multicultural people in the early days of Maryland's first European settlement at St. Mary's City. The Los Angeles Times reviewed The Wished-For Country as a contribution to the history of "the common people," calling the book "an attempt in novel form to bring to life the original Wesorts and their turbulent world." [22]

Leslie Tucker, an African-American of Wesort descent, and Henry Horenstein published We Sort of People in 2006, which referred to Wesorts simply as "Proctors". The book contains pictures and interviews with Brandywine people, often from Leslie's family. [23] [24]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Edward Augustine Savoy". The Washington Post . 22 September 2013. Retrieved 18 January 2026.
  2. 1 2 3 Price, Edward Thomas (January 1950). Mixed Blood Populations of Eastern United States as to origins, localizations, and persistence. Oakland, CA: University of California. p. 298-299. Retrieved 17 January 2026.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Bernstein, Carl (1970-12-15). "Tri-racial "Wesorts" face genetic nightmare". The Montreal Star. Montreal, Quebec. p. 17. Retrieved 2026-01-03– via Newspapers.com.
  4. ↑ Hashaw, Tim (2006). Children of Perdition: Melungeons and the Struggle of Mixed America. Mercer University Press. p. 89. ISBN   9780881460742 . Retrieved 1 January 2026.
  5. 1 2 3 Heinegg, Paul (2000). Free African Americans of Maryland and Delaware From the Colonial Period to 1810. Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Company. pp. 1, 3, 5–7, 53–67, 258, 286–290, 318, 321, 334–339. ISBN   978-0-8063-5042-4 . Retrieved 2 January 2026.
  6. ↑ Sims, Leah C. (n.d.). "Unraveling a Deceptive Oral History: The Indian Ancestry Claims of Philip S. Proctor and His Descendants". Archived from the original on 7 June 2011. Retrieved 3 March 2011.
  7. 1 2 Ruehl, Peter (1979-12-18). "Brandywine People--mixed heritage, proud race". The Evening Sun. Baltimore, Maryland. p. D1, D2. Retrieved 2026-01-03– via Newspapers.com.
  8. ↑ Earl Arnett (1979). "Indian place-names: a vestige of Maryland's past". Maryland Magazine. Department of Economic and Community Development, State of Maryland. Retrieved 2026-01-03.
  9. ↑ Sweet, Frank (n.d.). "Melungeons, Redbones, and other U.S. Maroons (E3)". Archived from the original on 2011-05-11. Retrieved 3 March 2011.
  10. ↑ "2010 Census Redistricting Data (Public Law 94-171) Summary File" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. January 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 July 2011. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
  11. ↑ Harte, Thomas J. (1963). "Social Origins of the Brandywine Population". Phylon. 24 (4). Clark Atlanta University: 371. doi:10.2307/273378. JSTOR   273378 . Retrieved 18 January 2026.
  12. ↑ Brown, Letita Woods (1972). Free Negroes in the District of Columbia 1790-1846. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. pp. 26, 30–31, 66, 70, 136, 143–146, 148, 158–159, 161, 162. ISBN   0195015525 . Retrieved 20 January 2026.
  13. ↑ Allen, Bob (7 July 2025) [26 June 2015]. "Stalking John Wilkes Booth". American Battlefield Trust. Washington, DC: American Battlefield Trust . Retrieved 21 January 2026.
  14. ↑ Vognar, Chris (19 March 2024). "Does 'Manhunt' Get the John Wilkes Booth Story Right?". Rolling Stone . New York, NY: Penske Media Corporation . Retrieved 21 January 2026.
  15. ↑ Steers, Edward (2001). Blood on the Moon The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky. pp. 155–156, 158. ISBN   0813122171 . Retrieved 21 January 2026.
  16. ↑ Savoy, Lauret E. (13 September 2013). "Early African-American workers in DC were more than silent witnesses". Christian Science Monitor. Boston, MA: The Christian Science Monitor . Retrieved 17 January 2026.
  17. ↑ Cushing, Lincoln. "Liberty and Victory ships named for African Americans". Kaiser Permanente History.org. Archived from the original on 26 January 2017. Retrieved 17 January 2026.
  18. 1 2 Hernández, Arelis R. (11 September 2015). "Del. James Proctor, Maryland lawmaker, dies at 79". The Washington Post . Washington, D.C.: William Lewis. Archived from the original on 17 September 2015. Retrieved 17 January 2026.
  19. ↑ "Elizabeth G. (Susie) Proctor". Maryland Manual On-Line. Annapolis, MD: Maryland State Archives . Retrieved 18 January 2026.
  20. ↑ Wiggins, Ovetta (30 October 2015). "Two Maryland delegates from Prince George's sworn in today". The Washington Post . Retrieved 18 January 2026.
  21. 1 2 Silva, Amy T. (19 December 2000). "Indian Relics Languish in Museums as Maryland Tribes Fight for Recognition". Capital News Service. Archived from the original on 19 January 2014.
  22. ↑ Day, Anthony (27 September 2002). "A Story of Marginalized Colonists Not in History Books (review of The Wished For Country)". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 20 August 2023. Retrieved 3 March 2011.
  23. ↑ Verlag, Kehrer (28 November 2023). "Henry Horenstein & Leslie Tucker: We Sort Of People". All-About-Photo.com. California: All About Photo Magazine . Retrieved 21 January 2026.
  24. ↑ Horenstein, Henry; Tucker, Leslie (6 July 2021). Leslie speaks about Wesorts (H.264). Vimeo (Online video). New York, NY: Bending Spoons . Retrieved 21 January 2026.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.