A'Jah Canselo- A Taste of Legacy
A Taste of Legacy-Uncle Nearest Distillery Retreat Reflection
There is nothing better than learning our history from the ancestors and people who lived it. This statement was the main topic in my mind as I read Fawn Weaver’s Love & Whiskey. It echoed even more during the retreat to the Uncle Nearest Distillery in Tennessee. The distillery offered a unique opportunity to see the history and witness the accomplishments of Uncle Nearest, while also presenting insights on entrepreneurship and ethical decision-making.
The journey to the distillery was an experience in itself. The rural, farm-like atmosphere of Tennessee was a complete contrast to the urban landscape of Atlanta. This scenery made me reflect on how legacies of slavery, segregation, and regional laws can still shape present realities. It reminded me that even though we have evolved from the past, some ideals and beliefs still have a way of incorporating themselves into modern day. For example, some Tennessee counties are still alcohol free since prohibition, despite being only miles away from two major distilleries. Once arriving, the physical environment became a symbol of Black people regaining their history, which is often erased or diluted to fit the white American narrative. Fawn Weaver’s novel Love & Whiskey reveals how the true history of whiskey making was whitewashed, but being on the distillery grounds showed me that truth is embedded in the land, in place, and in the living memory of others. Being at the Uncle Nearest Distillery made visible what reading alone can only gesture toward: the living geography of racial injustice, the physical scars of history, and the perseverance of Black enterprise.
Seeing Weaver’s entrepreneurial work at the distillery allowed me to take time and truly admire Fawn Weaver’s perseverance and discernment in uncovering hidden truths. Her journey to curating this book was a daunting task, as resources were limited and it required her to change her whole life around. Yet her determination to uncover the truth and honor Black history mattered more than any struggle that would come. This way of thinking is also reflected in Robin D.G. Kelly's argument in Freedom Dreams, in which Kelly argues that people are drawn to social change and visions by hope of what might be. Weanver’s path is also a perfect example that entrepreneurship demands ethical discernment and being able to acknowledge the risks that come with certain business adventures, and if you are reading to attack it. The struggle was not only in the journey to uncovering the history of Uncle Nearest, but also in opening the first Black- owned, female-led distillery and dominating in the field a field historically run by men.
Stepping outside the classroom into a setting like the distillery allowed me to conduct a self-assessment. Much like Nearest Green’s descendants, I, too, am a part of a bigger story, a history that has yet to be uncovered. Especially in the current era, where the exposure of Black history is being threatened because it exposes the past for what it actually was, the distillery has motivated me to go beyond what I am taught or what I hear in the press. It is my responsibility to read into my history and garner a sense of responsibility to do what the next person may not: ask the hard questions and find the missing parts. As an honors student, I realize that the path may be difficult and unclear, that success is not guaranteed, but that historical consciousness, ethical discernment, and imaginative vision can lead me to places of meaning, restoration, and possibility.
The Uncle Nearest Retreat was more than a field trip; it was a crossroads of reading, feeling, and acting. The novel Love & Whiskey by Fawn Weaver taught important truths about life, and being in Tennessee made them tangible. This experience was one that I will carry with me throughout my collegiate years and incorporate into my adult life.
Photo Activity
Love Story Evidence:
Brand vs. History:
~A'Jah Canselo, Class of 2029
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