PHILIP TIBBS:

My Family Story: A celebration of Afro-Indigenous and Irish heritage- 

“The Clark -Tibbs Families”

My name is Philip Tibbs, and I am the third son of Howard & Betty. My grandfather-James Clark was raised in the eastern Ohio region, where he spent the majority of his life with his 4 children and 28 grandchildren, of which I am one. The unfortunate realities of prejudice and ethnic acceptance and nonacceptance were very much evident for James - he was of a lighter skin tone and was generally accepted by the African-American “colored” communities, but given a nickname while he was doing amateur boxing by the name of “Cotton Clark.” James Clark was around 6’1” or 185 cm, tall during most of his adult life. He was an opposing man but very soft spoken and by all of the accounts of my dear mother- (Betty), a very good father.

Grandfather Clark's Aunt Sally (nee Clark) Strothers contended that the family of the Reynolds was somehow tied to the Reynolds tobacco company of Virginia as one of their descendants and possible progenitor. This could be one of the ethnic and cultural ties to the Irish- northern European background and transference of genetic traits to the family. Unfortunately, for Aunt Sally and the rest of the family, her sister Mariah died in childbirth with James. He was raised by his Grandmother and Mariah's brothers and sisters, essentially adopted him as a sibling but in reality, he was a nephew. In his mid-20s, he encountered Lenore Jackson, originally of Bellefontaine, Ohio and that their union produced 4 children. Paul Clark, Betty – my Mother, Winifred Clark and Marguerite Clark. Both James and Lenore had similar cultural backgrounds of northern European, indigenous ancestry and African-American cultural heritage.

The unfortunate realities of prejudice and ethnic acceptance and nonacceptance were very much evident for James Clark he was a less Melaninized human being and accepted by the African-American – "colored" communities, but given a nickname while he was doing amateur boxing of "Cotton Clark". He lived a very full life and this is one of the ties to the Irish or British Isles ancestry and also a part of the African-American experience that he lived for his 90 years.

His son Paul served in the U.S. Army during World War II. Due to his African ancestry, he was stationed at Fort Huachuca, Arizona, for his entire military career and assigned to units that were essentially remnants of the 10th Calvary and part of the Army referred to as the 'Buffalo Soldiers.' My mother, Betty (nee Clark) Tibbs, was the least melanized of her 4 siblings. At one point, she even joked that because her brother somewhat darker skin tone, Melanination;  perhaps she had been adopted. While this couldn't have been farther from the truth, it speaks to the complexities and miracles of genetics in families and especially families with multicultural heritage such as ours.

My mother and the Clark family knew the Tibbs family that was from Salem, Ohio USA. The Clark family was from an adjoining county in Ohio – Trumbull County, Ohio and the city of Girard, Ohio is what my mother considered to be her hometown. My paternal grandparents were Roy Tibbs of Lancaster, Ohio USA. Born 1873 CE He was a barber by profession, and went to Salem Ohio to work in the barbershop that was established by his future father-in-law, Charles Howard. Charles Howard was born in the state of Virginia around the suburbs of Richmond in 1832 C.E. his 2nd wife was Julia Greene of Virginia also and their youngest daughter was my grandmother Emma (nee Howard) Tibbs. 

Grandmother Tibbs was born in Salem Ohio in 1883. The connection to Scotland and Ireland was from great grandmother Julia Greene. Her great-grandfather was Edinburgh Cyrus, born in Culpepper Co. Virginia was then a colony of the British crown in 1768 CE. The family folklore that was passed down was that Edinborough was a slave and eventually, manservant to the supposed landowner who had a military title and was possibly a member of the Virginia House of burgesses. We understood his name to be Major Roberts who was from Scotland. Roberts had Edinborough Cyrus as a manservant barber and attended to duties within the house in the Culpepper County region. Grandfather Cyrus worked until he could buy his freedom in 1822 and supposedly after Roberts had died. He took his family and headed west out of Virginia, crossed the Ohio River, and settled in Carroll County, Ohio. The Cyrus family is some of the oldest settlers of that county, and definitely some of the earliest African-American landholders. The establishment of Ohio as a state only occurred 19 years earlier and at the time the family was subject to being kidnapped and brought back to Virginia even though they had bought their freedom and were considered free persons of color.

The establishment of a family reunion of 3 of the co-mingled, intermarried families began in 1890 CE in the County of Columbiana, Ohio. My grandmother, Emma Howard Tibbs attended the first reunion when she was 7 years old. The 3 families are the Cyrus, Ormes, and Manzilla – annual reunion. The families have been meeting consecutively for 130 years. The only interruption that has occurred in this year of 2020 CE due to the pandemic of COVID 19.

Our multicultural connection and the accomplishments that we have been a part of is the very fabric of what is currently America. My father served in the US Army Air Forces during World War II in units that would later be referred to as the so-called 'Tuskegee airmen/women,' the 99th fighter squadron and the 477th Medium Composite Group. He is also the recipient of the U.S. Congressional Gold Medal-(bronze replica), which his wife Betty accepted on his behalf. The ceremony occurred at the rotunda of the US Capitol, March 2007 C.E. This would be the same location that 14 years later in Washington, DC would be desecrated by persons in an attempt at rebellion.6th January, 2021 C.E.

I have made significant efforts trying to honor my father and the thousands of other men and women who served this country but were not afforded opportunities or advancements and had to endure the discrimination that our military and nation subjected them to. Americans are all the native sons, daughters and trans persons of many nations. We, as the descendants of African, Caribbean, Indigenous and European ancestry, especially deserve to be recognized and cherished.

We owe a debt of gratitude and also the seeking of direct ancestral ties from the forbearers of James Clark and also Edinborough Cyrus to fully embrace and understand who those persons were and for them to understand our legacy.

As a person that I very much identified with and also shares similar cultural background - Bob Marley of Jamaica - once said-sang:

“𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘩𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘴𝘬 𝘮𝘦 - 𝘞𝘩𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘥𝘰 𝘐𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘐 𝘢𝘮? 𝘐'𝘮 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢 𝘉𝘶𝘧𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘰 𝘚𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢. 𝘚𝘵𝘰𝘭𝘦𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘈𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢, 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢. 𝘍𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘭, 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘭.”

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