My Nana McCarty’s Will

Written By Pink Flowers

I’mma let one of my ancestors speak for herself, y’all—for realz!

I’ve been on this ancestry kick a couple weeks. It’s a mo’ fuggin’ rollercoaster ride of who’s really who and picking through other people lazy research for “facts.” Dots connecting theyselves, as I dig deeper, get crossed in my fucked up family tree. I’m still cross-checking the Shakespeare thing, while “Princess” Vanderburg turns family Ana-fucking-stasia. Dead ass doh, my way great grands from both mom and pop’s was slave holders—dead ass.

To cut to the meat o’ popular belief about the role of white women during slavery. There’s a trope about women going against evil “Massuh” to show kindness to the “poor slaves.” This is my 4th great grandmother Sarah McCarthy, y’all:

“In the name of god I do give grant or bargain unto my Son W.B. Funderburgh my Negro Boy Ambrus. I do also give grant or bequeath my Negro girl Dafney unto Martha Celona Funderburgh Daughter of my Son W.B. Funderburgh her said Dafney and her increase unto my above wrote Grand Child Martha to her and her heirs of her body for ever. I also give grant or bequeath one feather bed and furniture unto each of my daughters Lucinda Foreman and Charlotte Oden.

I do also give grant or bequeath my Stock of Cattle unto my Son W.B. Funderburgh and the more better to secure the title of my Negro Girl Emily which I have given unto my Daughter Elizabeth McCarty. I do give grant or bequeath the said girl Emily and her increase unto the Said Elizabeth and the heirs of her body for ever in witness whereof I have hereunto affixed my hand and seal...”

Irony here is daughter Lucinda did have a kid, Frances, for to pass her claim on Emily. Frances’ daughter, Fannie, married Black man Walter Hendricks—blessing, curse or what have you. I ain’t blamin' Nana McCarthy. If any o’ y’all do, then go ahead and cancel me too. I see how a lot o’ y’all do. Fuck, I benefit from the society her “sin” helped to make.

Fannie had Bette (my grandma), who had Kitty, who pushed me out into this world. That’s my legacy of slavery. At least a piece of it.

Let me know if this family shit is getting old. If not, I got five hundred years of this shit for your ass.

Pink Flowers

Pink Flowers is a Black trans artist, peacemaker, educator, and pleasure activist whose work lives at the intersection of embodiment, governance, and cultural transformation. Trained in Theater of the Oppressed, Art of Hosting, and Navajo-informed Peacemaking practices, Pink designs spaces where conflict can be addressed, power can be examined, and joy can be reclaimed.

Her artistic and pedagogical practice draws from African trickster cosmology, Brazilian Joker traditions, shamanic ritual, and cooperative economics. She is the founder of the award-winning Falconworks Theater Company (2005–2021), which used popular theater to build civic capacity and participatory leadership in historically marginalized communities.

Pink served for over five years as a trained Peacemaker in the Red Hook Community Justice Center in Brooklyn, facilitating restorative processes within the New York City court system. From 2015–2018, she worked in cooperative business development with the Center for Family Life, supporting worker-owned enterprises in immigrant communities.

She currently serves as Director of Education and Training for the Inter-Cooperative Council in Ann Arbor, where she leads leadership development and conflict engagement initiatives. Her work has been presented nationally and internationally, including at the Stretch Festival in Berlin and the Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed Conference.

Across ritual, performance, mediation, and institutional design, Pink’s work asks a central question:

What becomes possible when we refuse shame and choose conscious power instead?

Previous

All F*ing Related
Next

Rootwork Makes Good Neighbors