Sarah Ann McGraw

Genealogists from the show Finding Your Roots discovered that Sarah A. Shields, was a mixed-race woman born into slavery, who was freed along with her eight siblings by their white father.[2] Freed March 4, 1848, by her her own father, a white planter named William B. Shields.

In 1838, 10 years before she was freed, Sarah married a white man. His name was Anderson Robinson. This marriage occurred when slaves were generally forbidden to marry. Her father's support and wealth helped to sway the county clerks who registered marriages in Alabama. County clerks could exercise a fair amount of discretion in who they allowed to marry. Since county clerks got paid for fees through services, they tended to be more permissive. Anderson Robinson posted a $200 bond for the marriage.

Sarah's family lived openly as a mixed race family during the slave era, until the Jim Crow era laws were put into place. They then decided to conceal their African American ancestry, as confirmed in their death records, which lists them as white.

References

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vivian_Cash
• https://www.genealogy.com/ftm/b/a/l/Mamie-Ballard/WEBSITE-0001/UHP-...

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/14812421/sarah-mcgraw