FAIRBURN, Ga. -- Thousands of people all over metro Atlanta got up early, but only a few can say they got up to watch one of their own.
They cheered at every big moment, cried tears of joy, and fell into each other's arms, struggling to believe this is all real.
"I couldn't hardly wait to get up this morning and come here" Ruby Ragland McKibbens said. "She did well, and she was beautiful, just beautiful."
"And now to actually have a cousin who has married her prince, it's so unreal," Gilland Ragland Few said.
The Raglands were forced to come to Jonesboro in the early 1800s. Revolutionary War veteran William Ragland won a land lottery as a reward for his service. The property he won was on then frontier land in Georgia. The city of Jonesboro that would serve as the backdrop for Margaret Mitchell's Tara.
He bought slaves forcing them to work the land and also forced his last name on them. Meghan Markle can trace her roots to them. Her side of the family would leave Georgia in the early 1900s, but leaving behind plenty of other family members.
The Raglands were impressed by the diversity in the service. Taking note that Dr. King, whose family roots are from Stockbridge, just one town over on State Highway 138, was mentioned not once, but twice, during the service.
"To have this in my time, it's on another level. The diversity. We are literally cracking that glass ceiling, meaning anything we as African American women, whatever we set out to do, we can accomplish it," Gilland Ragland Few said.
Meghan Markle might only be their distant cousin, but the Raglands said that she makes them feel as close as any other family member.
"She's gorgeous. And to look around and see people who resemble her is pretty special," Dorothy Tuck said. "For the first time, an African American is a part of the royal family. And one that represents us so well."
