HEBRON, Ky. — An Amazon Air Hub employee had an extra special Juneteenth celebration this year after taking the time to research her family’s lineage, and learning an incredible story of perseverance.
She’s now trying to pass that knowledge onto others, using her platform at one of the biggest companies in the world.
The pop-up Juneteenth history museum at the Amazon Air Hub at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Airport features a board on which employees can write what the holiday means to them. It meant a lot of things to area manager Brielle Newton throughout the years, but Newton, who helped organize the museum, wrote “opportunities” on the board.
“My grandmother made the most of her opportunity, which created generational wealth for our family. So I’m definitely grateful for the opportunities I have, and the people before me,” Newton said.
She’s referring to Lucy Bedingfield, who is actually her great, great, great, great grandmother, which is fitting, given the high degree of greatness Bedingfield achieved after being born in Athens, Alabama in 1832.
“She was born a slave. Her mother was a slave. And her father was actually a Cherokee Indian,” Newton said. “Her father’s side of the family was actually forced out of Alabama in the trail of tears, and so the only reason she got to stay there was being a slave at the time.”
At about 33 years old, Bedingfield got her own freedom.
“After obtaining her freedom, she purchased 170 acres of land, which not many people were doing back then. With that land, she was able to farm her animals, and live off that land,” Newton said. “They would go and fish in the river, and fry that fish the same night.”
Bedingfield purchased the land in 1888 for $600.
She had nine children with her husband, Meredith Bedingfield, who was also a former slave. They passed everything along to the generations that followed.
Newton exists today, a result of the perseverance her ancestors showed. She took an interest in learning more about her family history a few years ago while listening to stories from her grandfather, Ron.
Newton traced her family ancestral lineage to Limestone County, Alabama, where she traveled to see the historic marker built in Bedingfield’s honor. For more than a century, Bedingfield’s family has remained on the land, which is still owned by her descendants. On Newton’s visit, she walked on the grounds, the gravesite where many generations of her family are buried and the cotton fields that still exist.
“It inspired me, and it kind of gave more purpose to actually celebrate Juneteenth. I mean, you learn about it in school, and things like that, but then once you have a connection, it makes it more special,” Newton said.
She said learning about her family evoked a quote from Martin Luther King Jr.’s widow, Coretta Scott King:
“Struggle is a never-ending process, and freedom is earned in every generation.”
“So for me,” Newton said. “Juneteenth, I think that just symbolizes the resilience of my family.”
Now taking a leadership role through Amazon’s Black Employee Network, Newton gets to share her family’s story with others this Juneteenth, and share other freedom stories from the northern Kentucky/Cincinnati region.
“I definitely feel compelled to help spread awareness and education to what Juneteenth actually is,” she said. “I feel very empowered, knowing that I come from such a strong history. I know that my ancestors are very resilient.”
Newton also encourages anyone curious about where they came from to look, and see what they might find.
Learn more about Lucy Bedingfield and her family’s land here.