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.
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.