The Spartus Camera has been passed down from generation, to generation in my family. The Spartus Camera was a way my Great Grandmother and my Great-grandfather were able to capture still moments from their history and is able to show how times were back then. It’s sort of fly that I got a chance to say hi to, relatives I never got a chance to say hi or bye to. My great-grandmother, Annie Love Veasy, whom I grew up calling “Big-Ma”, was born in 1914; she was one out of eleven children. Big Ma’s grandmother, Big Money (Aunette) was a West Indian, Cherokee Native born in the 1800’s and my whole family starts from her. My family migrated from Georgia to Harlem but still own the land we have in Georgia till this day. I call my grandpa, Stanley Stevenson, Poppa because he’s still young and around early 1970’s he met my grandma Gloria Faye Turner in Harlem and at age 16 they had my mother Dashawn Turner (1972). I wasn’t fortunate to meet my grandma Gloria because she passed before I was born but from the words from Poppa gave me a vivid image of her. She reminded him “of a an Angela Davis type, righteous, pro-black, fear none, learned, Sepia Sister with a crown of a perfectly coiffed Afro.” Poppa explained to me how they met at their summer jobs and explained to me, “She always while walking or sitting held my hand and more importantly my heart. Through our union we was blessed with a beautiful baby girl, Dashawn Turner/Stevenson, your mommy”.

– Joseph

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