“Let the Circle Be Unbroken”
Below is an excerpt from the interview conducted with Dominga Leroy. To learn more about Dominga and her grandmothers listen to the full interview.
Dominga Leroy is the mother of four –three boys and one girl. She is a brilliant bronze sculptor residing in New Orleans. She was named after her Dominican grandmother—a Taíno or indigenous woman (1888-1987). She has ensured that her name lives on by also naming her daughter after her late grandmother—Gabriella Dominga. Dominga’s Haitian grandmother, Francilla Montreul (aka Dah) (1888-1987) was African and French. Both grandmothers came from political families. Dominga’s grandmother from the Dominican Republic was the mother of a general during the reign of Trujillo who was the president of the Dominican Republic for 40 years. Francilla was the aunt of former Haitian president Magloire. Dominga remembers her grandmother using an armoire to hide Magloire’s sisters from François Duvalier (aka Papa Doc) who became the next president. Papa Doc used his personal military, called Tontons Macoutes to kill anyone who opposed his rule. So, they were involved in politics since she was the aunt of the president. When president Magloire left for exile her family had to go into hiding. When her mother left Haiti and went into exile in Canada and the United States she left Dominga and her siblings behind with their grandmother, an aunt, and uncle. “I even pray to my grandmothers… it’s a very close bond. I met my mother when I was 10-years-old because she left when I was four. I met my father when I was six. And I met my mother was I was 10.”
Dominga notes, “The best part of my life I can say I’ve spent with grandmothers. First with my Haitian grandmother who took care of us. Who was loving. She lived to be 99-years-old. She used to get up early in the morning and would go to 4 a.m. mass. She was very Catholic. She would go to mass every morning and she always had all the grandchildren there….I remember she used to pray for people. People were sick, they would come over and she would pray for them. And she was the best cook ever.” Dah taught her how to stand up to fear when she made a Houngan, which is a voodoo priest, watch her grandchildren after trying to terrorize the neighborhood. When confronted with and threatened by a Houngan years later, Dominga took her own children to his door to let him know that she wasn’t afraid of him. Confronting fear head on contributed to Dominga’s fearlessness, including her battle with cancer. Dah loved red wine, dark beer and classical music. She died with two of her grandchildren in her arms.
Her Dominican grandmother was known for having a potion for everything. People came to her to be cured. She knew about the earth and the animals and she taught them to respect every living thing. “I have to say I think and I feel there is more to who we are and what we see than our own experience. There is more. And my grandmother worshiped the earth. She taught us that we all came from …that this planet was the God we talk about so much.“ She loved Clark Gable and always wore lipstick and French perfume. Dominga still remembers their smells and like her Dominican grandmother, wears lipstick when she does wear makeup. She too died in her sleep at 99-years-old.
“I am grateful that these women existed and that I am a part of them and they are my ancestors. I believe energy doesn’t die. We are energy. Energy never dies, so the energy is still there.”
“When you do say their names, the energy comes around. The continuation.”
Dominga is an expectant grandmother and since she carries her grandmother’s name, she will now be grandmamma Dominga.
