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Title: Lost Tribe of Magruder: The Untold Story of the Navy’s Dispossession of a Black Community

Citation Type: Dissertation/Thesis

Publication Year: 2019

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Abstract: “The Lost Tribe of Magruder” tells the story of a predominately Black community, Magruder, that had been forcibly relocated in 1942 for the creation of Camp Peary, a World War II training ground. This dissertation furthers our understanding of dispossession. Dispossession disempowers those who experience it. An adequate understanding of dispossession and how this understanding can be beneficial to this particular descendant community in Williamsburg contributes to strengthening dispossessed Blacks throughout African diasporas. Scholars primarily define dispossession according to the legal definition of the loss of land; a dearth of scholars have examined additional components of dispossession: material, racial, spatial and bodily. Dispossession is much more than the loss of land and entails multiple components coming together into a “matrix.” This new matrix consists of five elements: material, psychological, political, existential and spiritual, creating what I call the “matrix of dispossession.” The predominantly Black community from Magruder has experienced this matrix of dispossession. The dispossession of Magruder in 1942 links back to more than five hundred years of Europeans dispossessing Africans and African diasporic peoples. The first dispossessed Africans who forcefully had migrated to Tsenacommacah area predates the “first twenty Negroes” by close to a century. These are the ancestors of Magruder. They also have kinship networks that trace back to the 17th century and spread around the United States. These networks played an integral role during slavery, post emancipation and after the dispossession of Magruder in 1942. The Black community of Magruder reveals how Blacks experience multiple dispossessions and form new diasporas. They travel and learn how to read, write and communicate during slavery. Magruder forms into a tight knit communication with two churches, farming, oystering, education and love. While the Navy’s dispossession of Magruder disrupts and wipes Magruder off the map, this story still needs to be told. Overwhelmingly, the descendant community states they want this story to be told and they have guided me in understanding the way they want it to be told.

Url: https://media.wm.edu/content/wm/news/clips/magruder2019.pdf

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Authors: Harris, Travis, T

Institution: College of William and Mary

Department: American Studies

Advisor: Michael Blakey

Degree: PhD

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Pages: 275

Data Collections: IPUMS NHGIS

Topics: Other, Race and Ethnicity

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