Wednesday, December 11, 2024
Cheryl Wills, of Freeport, a journalist at NY1 — the first African American woman to host a prime-time nightly newscast on the cable network — has spent her career telling compelling stories. Wills anchors the Emmy-nominated broadcast “Live at Ten” weeknights, and hosts the weekly public affairs program “In Focus.” She joined the network in 1992, and has become one of its best-known journalists.
But it was her personal journey into her family’s past that became her most transformative and profound narrative. Through years of meticulous genealogical research, Wills uncovered the lost legacy of her great-great-great-grandfather, Sandy Wills, a Civil War veteran who self-emancipated from slavery, fought for the freedom of others of his race, and was buried in an unmarked grave for 135 years.
Cheryl Wills’s relentless efforts to find and honor him culminated in Sandy’s reburial in August with full military honors — a tribute long overdue.
Reflecting on the experience, she said, “I am intimately familiar with what it’s like when you don’t see things through. That’s my philosophy — my personal philosophy. You must see things through to the end, no matter how many years have gone by, no matter how terrible life has been. In my view, you must persevere.”
Wills, 58, was born in Queens and raised in public housing, and her upbringing was marked by challenges, including the loss of her father, Clarence Wills, a New York City firefighter and paratrooper, in a motorcycle accident when she was 13. “It gave me the drive … to always seek justice, to see things through to the end,” she said.
Her quest to rediscover Sandy Wills began 15 years ago, when she delved into genealogy to learn more about her father’s ancestry. Digital archives revealed that Sandy, born enslaved in Tennessee, emancipated himself during the Civil War and joined the United States Colored Troops.
His honorable service, however, was forgotten, and his grave lost to history. The breakthrough came when Wills collaborated with professional genealogists, and later Ohio Valley Archeology, to locate Sandy’s grave on a former slave plantation in Brownsville, Tennessee.
The project was brought to fruition with the help of archaeologist Jarrod Burke, director of the Geophysics Division at Ohio Valley Archaeology Inc. Burke played a critical role in locating Sandy’s grave using advanced geophysics.
“I had two roles, really,” Burke explained. “The first step of the process was doing something called the geophysical survey. So that’s where we used instruments like ground-penetrating radar and magnetometry to look into the ground and see if we could detect the graves, you know, without digging first. And then we wrote … a report for Cheryl and identified possible graves.”
The process was meticulous and at times uncertain. Burke and his team identified 38 probable graves, but excavated only a few to minimize disturbance and costs.
“The remains were not very well preserved. Bones were almost gone … but you could just see their outlines,” Burke said. “The teeth were there, and the teeth were very important for determining the age of the person.”
Based on the size of one particular skeleton, the condition of its teeth and the time period suggested by the coffin hardware, the team concluded that it was highly likely they had found Sandy Wills.
Cheryl Wills described her emotions at the excavation site. “Initially, tremendous anxiety,” she said. “And then once I saw that … his height matched his long bones … my anxiety gave way to tremendous satisfaction and joy.”
Sandy’s remains were exhumed, and Cheryl began working to secure approval from the U.S. government for a military reburial. On Aug., 8, Sandy Wills was laid to rest with full honors at the West Tennessee State Veterans Cemetery in Memphis.
The experience deeply shaped Wills’s understanding of her family’s place in American history. “My family has been in America for more than 200 years, and I have that documented,” she said. “We were brought here by force against our will from West Africa … I come from, like many African Americans, a family of survivors. To seek justice for those who died in the middle of that and can no longer speak for themselves — that’s what my legacy means.”
The project also introduced Wills to distant relatives she had never met, including Ethan West, a fourth cousin who played a crucial role in the discovery of Sandy’s grave.
“It’s beautiful to reconnect with our broken past,” Wills said. “It’s almost like we’re all coming together for a big family reunion again.”
Wills’s determination to preserve Sandy’s memory extends beyond her family. She has used her discoveries to educate others about the history of slavery, the Civil War and Black migration. Her children’s books and public talks bring these stories to life, ensuring that Sandy’s legacy, and the sacrifices of countless others, will never be forgotten.
Wills has also written a number of books about her Civil War grandfather, the most recent of which is a children’s book titled “The Emancipation of Grandpa Sandy Wills,” which can be found on Amazon.
Wills has lived in Freeport for 30 years. She and her husband, John Singleton Jr., the principal of Clear Stream Avenue Elementary School, in Valley Stream, have a 26-year-old son, John Singleton III, who works in media — continuing the family tradition of storytelling.
