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acationers on Ocracoke Island, lured 

 by its pristine coasdine and rich maritime 

 culture, seldom notice the tiny, quiet woman 

 who, at 100, is one of the island's most 

 cherished and unique residents. On most days, 

 friends and neighbors passing by her house 

 will look for her sitting in her recliner, 

 positioned just right to see through the storm 

 door. A woman of kind heart and few words, 

 she always returns a wave hello. 



Meet Muzel Bryant, whose lineage on 

 Ocracoke goes back to the Civil War. While 

 history books were chronicling the resolve of 

 the postwar American spirit, equally passionate 

 and entrepreneurial African American families, 

 such as the Bryants, often were left out of the 

 story. 



Muzel is a rare link to that near-forgotten 

 past. "She's a treasure in Outer Banks history," 

 says Walt Wolfram, a sociolinguist from North 

 Carolina State University. Wolfram has studied 

 Muzel's speech and her life for a decade. "She's 

 the last living African American who was bom 

 and still lives on Ocracoke." 



The first African Americans arrived on the 

 Outer Banks during the early 1700s as slaves 

 brought from Virginia and Maryland, according 

 to Wolfram. By the Civil War, coastal North 

 Carolina had a significant slave population, and 

 more than 100 slaves lived on Ocracoke. 



After the war ended in 1 865, all of 



TOP LEFT: Muzel Bryant, age 11 (1915). TOP RIGHT: Muzel, age 25 (1929). ABOVE: Today, atage 100, 

 Muzel is one ofOcracoke's most cherished residents and an important link to Outer Banks history. 



Ocracoke's former slaves left the island. The 

 only two African Americans to move from 

 the mainland to Ocracoke were Muzel's 

 grandparents, Harkus and Winnie Blount. 



No one knows why the couple chose 

 the island, but there is some speculation that 

 Winnie's former owner occasionally visited 

 Ocracoke, according to Alton Ballance, a 

 Bryant family friend. Ballance is the author of 

 Ocracokers, a definitive work on the island's 

 culture and history. 



Like many island men, Harkus earned a 

 living as a carpenter and a boat builder, while 

 Winnie worked as a domestic. Few written 



details about their life exist, but it was likely 

 difficult. Of the couple's 1 2 children, only 

 two — Annie Laura and Elsie Jane — lived to 

 adulthood. 



Elsie Jane married Leonard Bryant near 

 the rum of the 20th century, and they chose to 

 stay on Ocracoke. Between 1902 and 1924, 

 they had nine children, including Muzel. She 

 was bom on March 12, 1904 — only 39 years 

 after slavery ended and 50 years before the civil 

 rights movement began. 



"The connection over the century is just 

 amazing," says Julie Howard, Muzel's friend 

 and former next-door neighbor. 



20 HOLIDAY 2004 



