All the ancestors of the Giles family grew up sharecropping in South Carolina, picking cotton in a specific plot of land. But their family is also large: Decker Ngongang’s mother and her nine siblings still remember working as sharecroppers in a specific house in South Carolina.
But recently they received an interesting phone call: that plot of land was up for sale. The entire family decided to buy the house and the land. As a result, the Giles family bought back the house in which their ancestors worked picking cotton, and now that they’ve spent their first Christmas together, everyone is extremely proud.
Dorothy Ngongang, Decker’s mother, spoke to BuzzFeed about how the purchase of the house came about. Generations of her family had picked cotton in the three acres of land that surround the house, and so when she got the call from the people who were selling the house, the decision was easy.
The sellers called the Giles family directly because she allegedly specifically wanted them to own the house. The sellers remembered the connection the two families had as children. The Giles family lived in a sharecropping hut across from the big house. "We were playmates as children and we played with white children who lived within close proximity to us,” Dorothy told BuzzFeed.
The siblings decided to pool their money and buy the house and the acres of land. The big house will become a place for family who lives out of town to stay in when they visit, or for taking care of sick relatives.
"We reminisce about playing under the porch and how we just love looking at that beautiful white house with the wrap-around porch," Dorothy said.
This past Christmas was the first holiday the entire family spent together, and the homecoming looked truly amazing.