Joyce Mosley assumed the role of family historian over twenty years ago. She wrote Gram’s Gift to ensure her family’s children know their history and that all children know that Black history is American history. Her family is among the first families to reside in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. She can trace her family history to the 1600s to the first mayor of Philadelphia, Humphrey Morrey, and Cyrus Bustill, born 1732, enslaved, purchased his freedom, and baked bread for George Washington’s troop at Valley Forge.
Joyce is a member of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), the Colonial Daughters of the 17th Century, the Society of Founding Families of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, the African American Genealogy Group, the Sons and Daughters of the United States Middle Passage, and the Society of the First African Families in English America.
She presents her research at DAR, the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), and the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society (AAHGS) meetings and conferences, as well as at local libraries, churches, and schools.
In 2019, PBS featured Mosley on an episode of “Movers and Makers” https://video.whyy.org/video/outbound-y8big3/
ABOUT THE BOOK
Gram’s Gift tells the story of a free Black family with African, European, and Native American roots living in Philadelphia during slavery. Gram decided it was time for her grandchildren to know the contributions made by their ancestors. So, she gathers the children together for a family history lesson. The family’s history began before the Revolutionary War. Family members were active in the Underground Railroad, enlisted in the United States Colored Troops during the Civil War, and trained at Camp William Penn. The Morrey/Bustill family is one of the founding families of Cheltenham Township, just outside Philadelphia, PA. They are also among the founding families of several African American churches in Philadelphia and the surrounding neighborhoods, including the historic African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas, founded in 1792 as the first black Episcopal Church in the USA.
BOOK AWARDS
Phillis Wheatley Book Award 2021
International AAHGS Book Award 2021