Our family Story

Our family’s origins in Louisiana run deep along the Mississippi River from Baton Rouge to New Orleans. Through government records we can trace back to Virginia and the Carolinas. We have always been activists from prior to the civil war, during the civil war, throughout the civil rights movement, and today in our daily lives.  We are not only survivors of the cruel history of our ancestors’ lives but are a strong, smart, resilient and achieving people.  These achievements were not expected of Afro-American in the United States.

 

Our family is now dispersed across 18 states, with a few family members living in Europe and the United Kingdom. Many of us do not know one another, primarily due to geographic distance, which makes it all the more important that we choose to intentionally seek each other out.

 

The RBJW reunion in 1999, requested by matriarch Helena Wilson Wright-Butler, was intended to bring together all branches of the family — Rousseau, Banks, Johnson, and Wilson. The 2026 reunion continues this cherished tradition, one rooted in the determined efforts of formerly enslaved people to reunite families torn apart by the cruel economics of slavery.

 

The 2026 family reunion provides an opportunity for us to gather, learn, encourage, support, and show our love for each other.  We are looking forward to seeing you in Chicago, IL this June 2026.