I thought records would give me answers.

Instead…

they gave me more questions.

Names didn’t always match.

Ages shifted.

Identities changed from one decade to the next.

Black.

Mulatto.

Indian.

White.

The same people.

Different labels.

At first, it felt like confusion.

Now I understand it as something else.

Survival.

Because records don’t tell you who people were.

They tell you how they were seen.

And sometimes…

those are two very different things.