Across the Water: Blood Speaks with Michelle McKinney Hammond

🎙 Episode 3 Show Notes
Title: Across the Water: Blood Speaks with Michelle McKinney Hammond

Description:
In this episode of Our Truth Our History Our Story: Our THS, host Rita Coburn takes listeners across the water—into a conversation about identity, ancestry, and the deep spiritual pull of home.

Rita speaks with author, speaker, and cultural bridge-builder Michelle McKinney Hammond about her journey to Ghana, the meaning of return within the African diaspora, and the powerful ways history and lineage speak through us.

Their conversation explores how identity can be rediscovered through place, community, and purpose. When Rita heard Michelle’s story, she heard something deeper—the voice of blood, ancestry, and calling. Together they reflect on the long arc of history connecting Africa and the diaspora, and what it means when that connection becomes personal.

This episode invites listeners to reflect on their own roots and the ways our histories travel with us—sometimes quietly, sometimes loudly—until we are ready to listen.

Tune in every week as we explore:

Our Truth
Our History
Our Stories

Because in our stories, we find our truth.

Links & Resources:

Watch this episode on YouTube
https://youtu.be/VircR_zXLJY 

Listen and subscribe to the podcast on your favorite platforms
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2598323

Learn more about the D.I.V.A. Principle Conference 2026 with Michelle McKinney Hammond, taking place April 9–11 in Ghana, with an option to participate internationally:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-diva-principle-conference-2026-tickets-1983771204073

Learn more and follow updates from Rita Coburn Media
https://linktr.ee/ritacoburnmedia

Social / Call to Action:

Connect with Michelle McKinney Hammond on social media and visit her website:
https://www.michellehammond.com

Share your family stories using #OurTHS

Record the elders in your family. Preserve their stories, their memories, and their truth.

Follow us on social media for updates, transcripts, and behind-the-scenes insights.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:04

I'm Rita Coburn, a documentarian and author, a storyteller. As we hold both women and history close, last week we talked to Nicole Hannah Jones, the creator of the 1619 Project, and we had a special reading from her children's book, The 1619 Project Born on the Water. Young Naomi did that reading, and she told us about a hope that would not die out. I told you that I would take you across the water, and I want to do just that. From my PBS documentaries, all of my subjects, Maya Angelo for Maya Angelo and Still I Rise, Marian Anderson from Marian Anderson, The Whole World in Her Hands, and W. E. B. Du Bois, Rebel with a Cause. All of these people found a different and in many ways more accepting life across the water. From Europe to the African continent, from Haiti to Finland, all the subjects of my documentaries traveled at a time when most people in this country, white or black, sheltered in place. As black people, our spirits have a compass. Our very history, our truth, and our story led us across the water. Our story does not begin here in America, nor can it be contained or walled in by one country. If we trace our ancestry far enough, we go past this country and across the water to the continent of Africa. Perhaps everybody does, but we are the skin blood evidence that we come from a place. When we talk about our truth, our history, our story, they're often missing pieces. Sometimes those pieces surface in ways we never expected, and when they do, they can change everything. It's in our spirit, it's in our blood. Some years ago I met a woman whose life story brought her closer to that across the water connection and concept more than anyone I knew at the time. And when I heard her story, I heard her blood speak, that strong, rich African blood that could not be silenced. It was her truth. It was her history. It was her story. March is not just Women's History Month, but on the 6th of March, our Ghanaian brothers and sisters celebrated their independence. When Ghana gained independence under Kwame and Kruma in 1957, it became the first sub-Saharan African nation to break free from colonial rule, and quickly it became the symbol of Pan-African pride and liberation movements across the continent. And it is there, on that historic land, that Michelle ultimately found not only her calling, but a deeper understanding of who she was and where she came from. When Michelle was a little girl growing up in America, she really didn't understand all the reasons why she felt different. Can you talk about that, Michelle?

SPEAKER_00 3:41

They say the gene pool is deep, and there was a part of me that was missing. I just liked different things. I was just a different kind of girl. And I I think because I had gone to school in Barbados and then moved to Muskegon, Michigan, how exotic is that? I thought perhaps that was the difference, but it was deeper than that. It was uh generational depth. It was funny because years later, when I met my brother, my mother said, the two of you are so much alike. You know, so we don't really take into consideration how deep the gene pool is, but it caused a lot of pain back in those days because I was always wondering why I was different? Why did I like different things? And of course, it caused issues at school and invited bullying and other things because I was very different.

SPEAKER_02 4:32

You know, um, inside of us, and I I take this biblically, uh, when Abel and Cain fought, and uh you hear this this section where God says he heard he heard his blood from the ground. He heard Cain's blood from the ground. Blood can speak, and the blood in you was a little bit different than what we knew about. Right now, we think differently about America and the continent of Africa. But if you dial it back 50 years, 60 years, whatever you dial it back, we thought very differently than we do today. We didn't accept the continent as much as we do today. Now, take us back to when you were 16 years old and you met your father and found out that he was in Ghana. Tell me about that.

SPEAKER_00 5:38

Well, my aunt was taking a trip to Ghana. Well, she was actually doing a tour of the continent of Africa and mentioned that she would be stopping in Ghana. And I knew that my father was from Ghana. I always had one picture of him, and I just thought he was so handsome and had all of us longed to meet him, even though Daddy McKinney was a great father to me. Um, and so I said, Do you think you could find my father? I was just very curious about who he was as a person. Uh, I don't think at that time that I thought about the effect that he had on me as a person. Uh, I was too young to know that. But I was curious about who he was and uh I wanted to meet him. So my aunt, when she got to Ghana, she checked into the hotel and she asked the bellman, had he ever heard of a George Hammond? And he said, Of course. He's our bank president. He brings his clients here every day at five. Okay, that's not serendipity. That's that's steps order to the Lord, as far as I'm concerned. So she called the bank and said, I am your daughter of Michelle's aunt, and she wanted me to find you. And he was elated. Took the first thing, smoking flying over, and we were joined at the hip until he went home to be with Jesus. Um, and I gotta tell you, I wrote a poem about my first view of him, and I said, I stepped into my father's eyes and saw myself.

SPEAKER_02 7:07

It's very beautiful.

SPEAKER_00 7:11

Then all the pieces fit. Finally, yeah, why I was different, why I like different things all fit, because I was like him, a lot like him, even though I hadn't been with him past the age of two. So, and my mother used to say that all the time. She says, It's amazing how much you're like your father to have never lived with him. Our signatures were even the same. So there's something to the gene pool, definitely.

SPEAKER_02 7:36

The gene pool, the blood, the spirit, and the fact that we do cross the waters. And one of the things that I knew when I first heard this story from you, when I had met you and known you several years and you shared this with me, I felt that this connection that all of us have as black people, this common that we have, that does not just resonate in this country, but connects us to the continent. I see you more than I saw it in anyone else. Now, once you got together with your father and you saw yourself in his eyes, there's been a lot that happened since then, but today you live both in Ghana and you're often here in the United States. Um, and one of the things you do that I think is so important is you help people come to Ghana.

SPEAKER_01 8:39

Uh tours, talk about that.

SPEAKER_00 8:43

Well, I think it's very important. Every single per brown person should come to should come to Ghana. There is something that happens when you step off the plane. It's in the air before you even get out of the airport. Most people say they feel like they've come home. So there's a very deep spiritual connection that is deeper than any marketing of Africa and what it's like, and all the preconceived concepts and ideas of what it may be like. When you finally get here, something changes. And I've had the privilege through the tours of watching people literally be transformed by the things that they discover here. Uh, and that that ranges from them being in awe of the modernity of Africa. They don't expect it to be as modern as it is. Now, I love Ghana because it's an eclectic mix of old and new. You get a strong sense of tradition and culture, but you also get um very forward progressive uh mindsets and and and and things around you to see. So uh as you know, December is Detty December here, and we are flooded with people from all over the world that come here over the holidays to party, to eat. It has become a mecca for that in December. Uh, but beyond just coming uh for that, the everyday experiences of the food, the clothes, the activities that you see here, the history that you discover here about us as a people that points to the resilience and the power that we have as a people, um, is I think something that really builds people up. It gives them a greater sense of self, it renews their identity. I usually uh do a naming ceremony. Um, and that's a very emotional time for people uh to receive their Ghanaian name, their their name that they would have received at birth had they been here. Those are very gratifying moments for me, um, and I think very powerful moments for those who visit.

SPEAKER_01 11:01

The name connects to the day. Is that correct?

SPEAKER_00 11:06

Yes, the day that you were born. Uh in our culture, a child is not referred to as he or she when they are born. They are named the day of the week. And the name, that name has attributes that come with it. You know, in the in the West, you say Monday's child is full of grace, and Tuesday's child is fair of face, da da da. That came from somewhere. Uh here, the the name has an attribute with it. So when you do the naming ceremony, sometimes they just give you just the name of the week you were born, and that's the name that you have as a as a baby until you have your official naming ceremony, and they give you the other family names that will be attached. So my name is Arabah because I was born on Tuesday. But later I was given the name Ayudili, which was after my grandmother, who was part Nigerian. She was born in Nigeria and then moved to Ghana. So I have all those names. I'm Michelle Arabah, right? McKinney Hammond. So uh the name has a lot of significance. And I always tell our visitors, even your English name has significance because God was very focused on what to name people when they were born, because it was a prophetic utterance over the purpose that they were born. So we should never take our names lightly because what every time someone calls your name, they're literally calling every cell of your body into obedience for why you were created. So go and do the homework now and find out what your name means. Mine means uh who is like God, one who stands behind and practices absolute truth. So every time somebody says, Michelle, I'm like, what's up? Ayodeli means joy arrives in the house. And people go, yeah, that's you. You know, so I'm living up to my name. Uh and it's interesting because they've done uh scientific studies, you know, of people who get like strange or made-up names. They have a higher occurrence of delinquency, juvenile delinquency, and getting in trouble. And I I have come to the conclusion that that's based on the fact that the spirit is confused as to who it really is.

SPEAKER_02 13:22

Well, we're not confused as to who we are in this moment in our history. And we're not confused about our truth. It's time to double down, to look into who we are.

SPEAKER_00 13:36

Definitely.

SPEAKER_02 13:41

We go high, we go deep, we go purposeful, we read, we think, we look at our truth, we look at our history, and we develop an understanding of our story. And what you shared, Michelle, is a way in which people can take their commitment to themselves more seriously, even with this naming. So there is so much that is going on in the African continent now, and I want to encourage people to consider how you move. You are children from the water, you are here, but yet you're connected. And Ghana is quite a place. When you hosted my husband, my daughter, and myself, as we worked on the WEB Du Bois documentary. We found out so many things about Ghana that we just didn't know. And as we settled there, there were things that were very traditional, uh, fish that were sold from beside the road. And then there were places where we went to a black Japanese restaurant where the samurai on the wall were black and the food was exquisite.

SPEAKER_00 15:04

Amazing.

SPEAKER_02 15:05

We had such, and and and I've eaten all over the world, and I've never had better food. Uh, also, uh, your uh your cook, uh Fran, what is it, Francine? Uh who cooked for us. Uh, she would cook and step back and watch us because she could tell that we were gonna take one or two bites and look at each other in that way of how amazing is this. So I want to thank you for having been a host to us and also for the fact that your production company was able to help us navigate Ghana for the WEB Du Bois documentary. We went from Accra to Cape Coast at the what people wanted to call the slave castles, but more appropriately, they are named dungeons because we're kept there against our will. And as you see some of the footage of this place, I want you to understand there's even rooms where when they scrape the floor, the DNA from the blood over hundreds of years is still there. There's a piece of us that still exists in Ghana. There's a piece of us that exists across the waters. And I want to thank you for telling us a little bit about your journey, your truth. And Michelle, I just want to say thank you.

SPEAKER_00 16:40

You're welcome. It's a trip that everyone should take. Uh, there's a song I wrote called Come Home, and it says, the you that you were born to be will meet you here. And that's the truth. There's still a piece of you here that traveled across the water, that endured, persevered, overcame, and flourished and thrived in an environment that had everything going against you. Um, and I think that instead of dwelling on the horrors of slavery from a negative point of view, see it as the tool that was used to bring you through and out to where you are. Doesn't make it a pretty picture, should never be denied and never repeated, but should always be held in a hallowed place that it was your launching pad to the greatness that you're experiencing now.

SPEAKER_02 17:37

I feel that, Michelle, because I've thought about the way when all the earth was connected, and you see how America could be pushed up and fit into the African continent. And although it's been broken apart by the water, it's as if we came to get that other piece of ourselves. Yes, and there's a positivity to that. So as we learn more about our truth, our history, and our story, we learn how to thrive in the middle of all of this and to blossom into something even greater. So thank you for being with us today, and God bless you, and thank you for listening. Thank you, Michelle. Thank you for sharing your truth, your history, and your story with us. Michelle is a woman of faith. Her music and ministry come together in her music team, Relevance. And in America, she hosts Urban Ministries International known as UMI's, Sunday School Made Simple. You can find it on YouTube. She's a best-selling author, an accomplished singer and songwriter, and an actress who has appeared in television series and films in Ghana, West Africa. And for those listening, if Michelle's journey resonates with you, there's an opportunity to experience that connection firsthand. In Accra, Michelle will host the D Principal Conference 2026. That's from April 9th and 10th at the ICGC Christ Temple. Diva stands for Divine Inspiration for Victorious Attitude. And the conference brings together powerful women for conversation, healing, leadership, and purpose. Michelle gives tours in Ghana year-round, so connect with her on her social media platforms for more information. Whether you connect with Michelle or plan your own trip across the water or shelter in a special place, remember that your blood and your spirit are strong. The missing pieces of our story are waiting for us when we connect our truth to our history and discover our story. Next week, I'm going to talk to a woman that I call one of the Tubman sisters. I call her a Tubman because she helps people come from the south of their story, that story inside themselves, to the north of being free to tell that story on various platforms. In the world of documentary, Leslie Fields Cruz heads black public media and is responsible for the encouragement and some of the funding that helps many people tell their story. I'm Rita Coburn, and in this Women's History Month, I'm reminding you of what you already know. Read, contemplate, study your history. God is your strength. It's time to double down on our truth, our history, and our story.

SPEAKER_01 21:13

I'll be right here next week, I'll be able to do that.