Invented Before You Were Born

We Can’t Hide From History.

White siblings, Jonathan and Rachel Knight, discover they are descendants of Kentucky slave holder Richard Bibb. Confronting this family history leads to meeting black descendants of the people enslaved by their ancestor. Joined by Le Datta Grimes (journalist and historian), they set off on a journey to share the stories of descendants and cousins linked by enslavement and the inheritance of Bibb’s resources. Their efforts culminate in a powerful family reunion in Kentucky at the site that represents both bondage and freedom.

Story Summary

The rupture caused by the events in Charlottesville, 2017, was the catalyst for the filmmaker and his sister to engage in a journey of understanding and repair for their family’s legacy as enslavers. What began as an exploration of reparations rooted in white privilege and paternalism, became a much deeper consideration of what it means to engage with the people and places impacted by their ancestors and a shared history of slavery, racism, anti-Black policies, as well as the resiliency and self-determination of a community working to repair itself.

In 1839, over sixty enslaved people were freed by the will of Major Richard Bibb. They inherited land, tools, and money–the resources needed to establish themselves as free Blacks in America. Today, descendants of those freedmen are rediscovering their own history as a process of repair and revitalization. Through their efforts, a local museum has been established, with the old plantation house transformed into a space focusing on the lives of the enslaved people who lived and worked on the plantation.

Joined by historian, Le Datta Grimes, PhD, the filmmakers explore the context of this historical narrative and investigate the living memories of local residents.
The film culminates with a reunion of the descendants of those who had been enslaved and the white descendants of Bibb. The attendees find that their histories are intertwined in ways they never imagined, in ways that reveal truths about race and America–truths deeply implicated by our country’s history of slavery and anti-Black policies.