Author and journalist Cheryl Wills, a 1984 Uniondale High School alumna, recently visited Lawrence Road Middle School to share with students her family’s Civil War history during a Black History Month assembly.
The visit was part of the middle school’s “Read-A-Thon: Reading for a Cause” literacy initiative, which encourages students to build stronger reading habits while raising awareness for causes beyond the classroom.
Adeola Tella-Williams, Lawrence Road’s dean of students, said the program was designed not only to strengthen literacy, but also to connect students with larger social and historical themes.
“The whole premise behind it is that we wanted our students to be more socially aware,” Tella-Williams said. “While they can’t vote or be in politics yet, they can still help in some way.”
Wills, who grew up in Queens and later moved to Hempstead, is the author of “Die Free: A Heroic Family History,” as well as the children’s book “The Emancipation of Grandpa Sandy Wills.”
She spoke to students about her years-long research into her family history and the discovery of her great-great-great-grandfather Private Sandy Wills, a formerly enslaved man who fought in the Civil War.
The presentation by Wills, an Emmy-winning anchor for Spectrum News’ NY1, served as the culminating event of the middle school’s initiative, bringing together literacy, history and personal storytelling.
“My journey into my family’s past was fundamentally a journalistic investigation,” Wills said, “requiring the persistence and rigor of a seasoned reporter.”
She explained that her research extended far beyond online tools, taking her to the National Archives in Washington, D.C., where she reviewed military records, pension files and other historical documents. She also worked with local historical societies in New York and Tennessee to piece together her ancestor’s story.
Through her research, Wills learned that her ancestor had been born into slavery in Tennessee and later emancipated himself by joining the United States Colored Troops during the Civil War.
“My grandfather emancipated himself and helped free this country from slavery,” she said. “Imagine being born into chattel slavery, then seizing the opportunity to take up arms against the very system that oppressed you.”
The discovery was especially striking because generations of her family had no knowledge of his life.
“The story of Sandy Wills was lost,” she said
Her investigation eventually led her to Haywood County, Tennessee, where she worked with archaeologist Jarrod Burks of Ohio Valley Archaeology to locate an unmarked burial site on land that had once been a plantation. With permission from the current landowners, the team identified the grave using historical records and physical evidence, including records of her ancestor’s height and age.
“The team warned me that there was no guarantee that when they opened all of the graves that anything would be left,” Wills said. “We were lucky.”
Locating the grave was one of the most complex and emotional parts of her research. Using census records and property deeds, Wills traced her ancestor’s life after the Civil War, when he moved to a neighboring farm owned by John Bertie Moore, where he married his wife, Emma, and lived until his death in 1889.
“I was awestruck when I inspected the obscure, unmarked graves on land that had long since become private property,” she said. “The burial ground, which measured one acre, was completely neglected, a fate shared by countless formerly enslaved individuals who served their country.”
After the remains were identified, Wills worked with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to ensure her ancestor received a proper burial. He was reinterred at the West Tennessee State Veterans Cemetery in Memphis with full military honors — recognition he had been denied for more than a century.
“It was about making sure his name and his service were not forgotten,” she said.
Wills said she hopes her story continues to inspire students beyond Black History Month and into Women’s History Month, emphasizing that historical exploration is a year-round responsibility.
“For young women, especially those from communities similar to mine, seeing me — a professional woman who grew up in Hempstead — use my journalistic skills to uncover, research, and ultimately correct a historical injustice, serves as an incredibly tangible and empowering model,” she said.
She added that students remained fully engaged throughout the presentation, with many staying afterward to ask questions and speak with her.
“You can’t always get students to sit for 45 minutes without distractions,” Tella-Williams said. “They sat there and just listened. They didn’t want to leave — they really connected with her.”
The demographics of Lawrence Road’s student body are largely Caribbean and Latin American, and by inviting an African American to tell her story, it had a lasting impact on the students, many of whom were studying the Civil War in class, school administrators said.
“They studied the Civil War, and it’s abstract,” Tella-Williams said. “But her coming to talk about her story made it come alive. She said it herself, ‘You’re looking at someone who was a descendant of a Civil War hero.’
“And she made that point to them, but she just didn’t say it, she embodied it.”
