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A History of Blood – Chapter 1

Orleva Branch Jacobs, affectionately called Mama Lee, or simply, “Mama“, was born on June 13, 1924. She quietly passed away on August 10, 2026, at the age of 102.

Mama was predeceased by: her mother Lee; and her children, Ernestine Shell and Robert Jacobs. Ernestine Shell is the mother of Jacklyn Shell, the woman whom adopted me on June 17, 1999.

A dedicated public obituary strictly for Ernestine Shell of Baltimore is not widely detailed as an independent archive, but she is documented in the Baltimore area through the memorials of her immediate family members.

Jacklyn Willistine Shell, known as Jackie, or “Miss Sugar” was born on March 4, 1960 at 11:50 AM in Baltimore City.

Her mother, Ernestine Shell was born Ernestine Jacobs on May 6, 1941. At some point before Jackie was born, her mother married a man named Willie Ray Shell, whom would then go on to be her father. Ernestine, Willie Ray, and Orleva Jacobs, were all born in South Carolina.

Orleva was born in Kershaw County, South Carolina. She received a public education in a one-room schoolhouse in Kershaw County, South Carolina. She often confided that this was the same schoolhouse her mother attended.

At some point prior to when I was born, Ernestine moved her family, including Jacklyn, to New York City.

After adopting me, would bring me to her hometown to spend time with her family. It was during one of these trips that I met Mama, and she would be a central figure in my life up until I discovered my true identity.

The September 11 attacks, colloquially known as 9/11, occured while I was still living in hometown of New York. In the aftermath of the attacks, Jacklyn took me and the rest of her family and moved to her hometown of Baltimore.

The September 11 attacks,  were a coordinated series of suicide attacks perpetrated by the Islamic terrorist organization al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. A total of 19 hijackers commandeered four commercial passenger airliners. The first two planes were flown into each of the Twin Towers at the World Trade Center in New York City, while the third plane crashed into the Pentagon, the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, in Arlington County, Virginia. The fourth plane crashed in a rural field in Pennsylvania during a passenger revolt.

The attacks killed 2,977 people, injured thousands more, and gave rise to long-term health consequences while causing at least US $10 billion in infrastructure and property damage. It remains the deadliest terrorist attack in history, as well as the deadliest incident for firefighters and law enforcement personnel in American history, killing 343 and 72 members, respectively. The crashes of Flight 11 and Flight 175 were the deadliest aviation disasters of all time, and the collision of Flight 77 with the Pentagon resulted in the fourth-highest number of ground fatalities in a plane crash in history. The destruction of the World Trade Center and its environs seriously harmed the U.S. economy and induced global market shocks. Many other countries tightened airport security, strengthened anti-terrorism legislation and expanded their powers of law enforcement and intelligence agencies. The total number of deaths caused by the attacks, combined with the death tolls from the conflicts they directly triggered, has been estimated by the Costs of War Project to be more than 4.5 million.