“Don’t ask me where I am going but where I have come from. ” — African proverb
Adam Hymans is a man who knows where he is now, where he’s going and where he comes from. The self-described family historian has a rich history — and shared some of it with PGN this week.
PGN: Where are you from? AH: I was born here, but I went to prep school, which would be the equivalent of high school, in Germany.
PGN: What was growing up like? AH: My dad was a businessman and my mother was in publishing for a while. She later had some health issues that got in the way. My brother and I grew up in a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural household. We were always taught to value family history on both sides and it was a household where thought and creativity and curiosity were nurtured. My parents and grandparents always fostered a sense of wonder about the world. Education was a high priority in our house. I remember wanting to have a typewriter when I was about 7 years old. I thought it was the coolest thing in the world.
PGN: What was your father like? AH: He was a sort of gentleman hobbyist. He was an avid outdoorsman and would take us fishing in Cape Cod every year. He also painted oil portraits and dabbled in a number of different creative endeavors. I get my artistic side from him. The whole family contributed to my sense of wonder and eagerness to learn by encouraging me with everything from chemistry sets and electronic kits to actively engaging me with outdoor activities and quests. For instance, I just returned from a birding trip. My grandmother was the one who got me into it. We both loved the intense observation of birds in their natural habitat that’s a part of the hobby. I was the one who inherited all of her old field guides. And when they saw that I had an artistic eye, they provided for me to take arts classes. So they were very nurturing and supportive throughout my upbringing. My father was the one who gave me my first pair of binoculars.
PGN: You have a very interesting background. AH: [Laughs.] Yes, that’s certainly true! One of my passions is historical and cultural preservation and so I’m the natural archivist for the family. I’ve been the one to receive and collect all the family heirlooms and stories. My dad’s side of the family are Dutch Sephardim. Those were the Dutch and Belgian Jews of 16th century of Spanish and Portuguese origin. The Sephardim established the New World’s oldest surviving Jewish community almost 400 years ago in South America and the Dutch West Indies. My ancestors also include Paul Hymans, who served as Belgium’s Foreign Minister between WWI and WWII and as first president of the League of Nations, which was the predecessor to United Nations. He also helped to establish the universal right to vote and compulsory education in Europe. When I said education has always been important in my family, I mean from way back!
PGN: You’re not kidding! AH: And on my maternal grandfather’s side we are of Louisiana Creole, French Huguenot and African-American ancestry. My great-grandparents were freed black men and women and early graduates of color from Harvard’s Divinity and Business schools. Some of my family members established the first black-owned company to own a seat on the New York Stock Exchange and were founding investors in Essence magazine. And they were patrons of the arts, supporting a number of Harlem Renaissance painters like Jacob Lawrence and Romare Bearden.
PGN: Romare Bearden is the painter that Bill Cosby loves. His paintings were on the wall in the Huxtable house on “The Cosby Show.” AH: Yes, I remember. My grandparents and great-grandparents were into all of the action during the Harlem renaissance.
PGN: They probably knew my family! My great-grandfather founded the “First Negro Symphony” and my grandmother was a pianist in New York who taught Paul Robeson and W.C. Handy and had some connections with Billie Holiday and all the jazz greats of that time. AH: We should look it up!
PGN: And you, like me, also come from a Native American background … AH: Yes, my maternal grandmother’s side was of Eastern Cherokee, Lenape and Scottish ancestry, and they were native traditional and political leaders from 1730-1900. Some of them included traditional paramount chiefs Oconostota, Attakullakulla, Amatoya Moytoy and Moytoy II of Telico and principal chiefs General Stand Watie and Nimrod Jarrett Smith. So there’s a long tradition of leadership and service on both sides, which I hope to carry on.
PGN: What’s your favorite family heirloom? AH: I have two: The first is a set of portraits from the early 1800s of my maternal fourth-great-grandparents on my mother’s father’s side. They were the ones who really instilled the value of achievement and leadership, involvement in the arts. They were free people of color before the Civil War and leaders of the community. It really makes me proud to be a part of their history. The other object that I have — and I play with it all the time — is an ivory-handled shoe horn that my great-grandfather used to use: He would hold it firmly in his hand as he told me stories or taught me lessons. As a kid, I pretended it was a magic wand.
PGN: What was a favorite game as a kid? AH: I had a memory-card game that I loved. I still play a version of it today. When I was a kid I took an IQ test and scored really high and a lot of it was because I had such a good memory. Not quite photographic, but close.
PGN: What was your first book? AH: Well, school was never over for us; when we came home we were to read additional books at home. So there were a lot, [but] I remember my least favorite! I did something, I don’t remember what, but my punishment was that I had to read “The Red Badge of Courage.” It was a big book and I had to read it cover to cover and do a report on it. I still don’t like the book but it did help me engage with literature.
PGN: Where did you end up for college? AH: I went to Cornell University and started in linguistics with a thought of pre-law but then went into German studies and cultural anthropology. It was a good move because German studies encompassed all the things I was interested in — political science, literature, films, diplomacy, etc. — in the German-speaking world. Knowing the language already from my school days there really helped. In fact I received an award from the German Consulate for work I did on the immigrant experience in Germany and endangered German dialects. The cultural anthropology focused on religion, the structure of beliefs, why people believe what they believe and the nature of the mystical experience across the ages. I think some of my interest for that came from being raised in a multi-ethnic family with three different religions.
PGN: I didn’t even know there were endangered German dialects. AH: Sure, there is a standardized dialect that’s spoken over most of the region but, regionally, especially with older people, they may speak with a different dialect. I focused on the northern region, where they speak a dialect that’s closely related to Dutch, which my dad’s family speaks. The newer generation is not learning it so there’s a concerted effort to get out and record it so that it doesn’t disappear. When a language dies, so does a certain way of thinking and perceiving the world.
PGN: What’s a favorite travel story? AH: There’s a place in Northern Germany where there are lots of blueberry fields. I went there with family and friends and we spent the entire day going through the ancient heaths picking blueberries and walking around past old houses with thatched roofs.
PGN: What languages do you speak? AH: I speak German, Dutch and of course English and, because of my linguistic days in school, I know some Sanskrit!
PGN: And what’s your day job? AH: I work with the Philadelphia Foundation, which is one of the nation’s oldest community foundations. We have funds that grew from Ben Franklin’s estate! I work helping connect funders with organizations and other funders to help them figure out where and when they want to give. PGN: How did you meet your partner? AH: I met my partner, Kilian, at a party full of people from around the world. Our first conversation together was in German. His father’s German and his mother’s American and he grew up in Germany and Austria, so right off the bat we had a strong cultural connection. One of the things we really enjoyed about each other was that we both came from intercontinental families. He understands me in a way that a lot of other people do not. People sometimes think of me as serious, but around him I’m a total goofball!
PGN: I’m older than you and was lucky that being mixed was never a problem, though it could have its challenges. How was it for you? AH: It’s interesting: A lot of people assume that people of mixed race are a new phenomenon but my mom is from an old mixed-race family and my dad’s side is an old German-Dutch-Portuguese-Jewish family. So the family has been used to being a mix for a long time. For me, it has such a heritage attached that I don’t think of it as new or trendy. I tend to speak more about ancestry than race but at times, for convenience sake, I’ll use broader terms because it’s easier for people to understand. I identify more with the history of my ancestry, on both sides. There are such great stories and history to pull from.
PGN: Changing gears, what is your favorite bird? AH: Well, there’s an interesting bird called the gay — whoops — the gray catbird and, if you catch them at certain times, they actually sound as if they’re meowing like a cat, but at other times they have the most delightful whistles. They’ve also been known to imitate manmade sounds such as police sirens or machinery. They’re amazing creatures. I have to tell you, people watching — especially gay men — is very similar to bird watching! The individual quirks, the tribes that they form and the various rituals and calls that they make — I’ve often thought I might do an illustrated book on the male homosexual species and its habits! PGN: A favorite summer memory? AH: As a teenager, riding my bike through the orchards and fields along the northern Rhine River with my friends, crossing the border into the Netherlands and having a genever (a smooth Dutch gin) and frietjes, which are Dutch French fries, and visiting an antiquarian book shop.
PGN: What picture is set as the background on your computer? AH: A vintage Cornell sweater.
PGN: Any paranormal experiences? AH: Several. We talked about them openly and positively growing up. My family taught us that our reality is a sort of “web” of interconnected “energy,” to use a modern term. Some people are born with the ability to sense or shape this web, especially if other people in their family have done so over generations. It’s not supernatural; rather, simply an aspect of the natural world that few people perceive. When you nurture that connection, funny things can happen!
PGN: The most exciting or traumatic event you’ve witnessed? AH: My parents had a very ugly divorce because of an infidelity and, subsequently, difficult remarriages, which deeply affected me. I think that there was such a disruptive contrast between that experience and the supportive bubble in which I had previously been raised that I developed a creative tension that I’ve had ever since, though I think it helped foster a deep sense of empathy and compassion for the struggles of others. I think it also helped me determine what I value in relationships.
PGN: Pet peeves? AH: Bad manners, mean and dismissive people and leopard print.
PGN: Five things that make you happy? AH: Books — old books, great books, Facebook, any kind of book. A night with friends, cocktails and candlelight. Paintings, tweed … and Sourpatch Kids.
PGN: You certainly live a diverse life! AH: I’m lucky that way.
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