Viola Davis announced on Instagram that for her 55th birthday she purchased the house and property she was born on as a birthday gift to herself.
The house used to be inhabited by slaves. And her grandparents were sharecroppers there. Coming back after all these years to purchase the plantation is a symbol and act of liberation for her.
This is what she wrote below the picture of the house she posted on IG;
https://www.instagram.com/p/CDwPKA8hdUR/?igshid=1fbtua6csqjx5
“The above is the house where I was born August 11, 1965. It is the birthplace of my story. Today on my 55th year of life, I own it, all of it.”
According to TMZ’s report on the history of the former plantation, Viola described it in an interview back in 2016, as a place her grandmother used to live and that her house there was a one-room shack, without a bathroom, running water, and other home amenities.
Despite the sparse conditions they lived in, she recalls her mother telling her that on the day she was born, a bunch of relatives packed in there to honor the occasion, and enjoyed themselves. However, Viola Davis says that she did not live there long, but came back to visit over the years as she grew up.”