We continue to move toward our nation’s semiquincentennial, and I’m still sharing about the Revolutionary War effort of attaining independence and the related contributions and connections of families of the Fork, the Knox County lands between the French Broad and Holston rivers.
This one hits a little differently. She was named for the Greek goddess of love. Her name was Venus.
It was common during the colonial period to name an enslaved child after a god, goddess or a historical person of significance or power, thereby contrasting the enslaved person’s status. Another practice was to call an enslaved individual by a child-like nickname, suggesting a lack of maturity or agency. Venus was called “Vinnie.”…