Tucson’s African American history museum will open this week showcasing a new exhibit about a Peoria woman’s fight for justice and a firsthand account of her ancestor, an enslaved man.
Candice Hammons has spent two years researching her family history and trying to make right the harm done to her enslaved ancestors.
Hammons’ research into her family’s past began when she took a DNA test in 2018 and found she was an equal mixture of African and European ethnicity. She also learned she was related to a white slave owner.
She discovered her third great-grandfather, Albartis Arnwine, owned several enslaved Black women in the mid-1800s, including Gracie Arnwine, who is Hammons’ third great-grandmother. Before he died, Arnwine wrote a will granting freedom to Gracie Arnwine, her children, and all the enslaved people he owned. His will also stipulated the proceeds from the sale of his property, which included 900 acres in Texas, were to be left to them.
They never received that money. After Arnwine died, his white relatives contested the will and divided up or sold the enslaved people.