This historic photograph, taken by Frances Benjamin Johnston at the Hampton Institute in the early 1900s (see second image), holds deep personal meaning for me. It is more than a document of the past — it is an ancestral mirror. My own father graduated from Hampton University (which it was later called), with a major in Mathematics & minor in French. I feel the lineage of that place moving through my hands as I braid and bind each black broom. These African-American women, standing with power, dignity and purpose, remind me that sweeping has never been just about cleaning — it is a sacred act of care, order, and ritual.
The brooms I make today are an offering across time — woven with memory, reverence, and intention. Each strand is a thread between past and future, between the ancestors who endured and the descendants who dream. This is ancestor veneration in motion: a daily practice, a gesture of gratitude, a prayer with a handle.
MADE TO ORDER
This historic photograph, taken by Frances Benjamin Johnston at the Hampton Institute in the early 1900s (see second image), holds deep personal meaning for me. It is more than a document of the past — it is an ancestral mirror. My own father graduated from Hampton University (which it was later called), with a major in Mathematics & minor in French. I feel the lineage of that place moving through my hands as I braid and bind each black broom. These African-American women, standing with power, dignity and purpose, remind me that sweeping has never been just about cleaning — it is a sacred act of care, order, and ritual.
The brooms I make today are an offering across time — woven with memory, reverence, and intention. Each strand is a thread between past and future, between the ancestors who endured and the descendants who dream. This is ancestor veneration in motion: a daily practice, a gesture of gratitude, a prayer with a handle.
MADE TO ORDER