The History of George Floyd’s Family

 

The Floyd family hails from Sampson County in Southeastern North Carolina.  In 1935, Neal Floyd met and married Argertha Gillis, thus forming a union that would yield nine children.  

 

The Floyd Family Siblings

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- Annie Floyd McLaurin – Neal Archie Floyd, Jr - Ella Floyd Bannerman – 

Linwood "Bill" Floyd - Wendell Floyd – Cliff Floyd – George Perry Floyd, Sr – 

- Roger Floyd – Isaiah Floyd -

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The Floyds were known as a family that loves to love and loves to sing.  Neal Floyd instilled in his family a sense of unity and caring for each other.  This proved to be a valuable resource after his untimely death in 1957.  His oldest child had just married and his youngest was just four years old.  Widowed with young children to raise, Argertha, continued to see that her family stayed together and continued to rely on God for their strength and subsistence. 

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Music has always been a mainstay for the Floyds.  From the Floyd Family Singers, to the Gospel Souls, the Chocolate Buttermilk Band, and the Brooklyn/Bronx/Queens Band, when the Floyds were in town, you knew good music was around.  From the beginning to the present, a Floyd Family gathering never ended without good food, music, and laughter.

The seventh child, George Perry, a professional musician, met and married Larcenia Jones, also from North Carolina.  This union produced two girls, LaTanya and Zsa Zsa, and one son, George Perry Floyd, Jr.  The world now knows him simply as George Floyd, but he was known as Perry, Jr. by his family.  George, Sr. had two other children, Terrence and Bridgett.  After the tragic death of Perry, Jr. on May 25, 2020 in Minneapolis, MN his family in North Carolina decided to honor his life and legacy by creating a non-profit organization in his home state.  This effort, led by his uncle Roger Floyd and his cousin Thomas McLaurin, focuses on turning tragedy into triumph and hurt into hope.  In the fall of 2020, The George Floyd Memorial Center was incorporated.  In August of 2022, the name was changed to the Floyd Family Center for Social Equity.

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The vision of the Floyd Family Center is to shine light on inequities experienced by underserved and underfunded communities.  The tragic death of George Floyd (Perry, Jr.) gives us a world-wide platform to share the love that has always been a part of the Floyd family and will continue to be our way of giving back to society, leaving the world better than we found it.