My paper for the AAIHS meeting had to contribute to an exciting atmosphere of deep intellectual thought amongst people who are also enthusiastic about demonstrating the importance of the past to the present. The theme of the entire conference was “Preserving Histories and Legacies in the 21st Century,” and my paper, “One Family at a Time: Using a Genealogists Toolbox to Preserve Black History,” aimed to discuss how genealogists are actively working to make connections across Black history in the United States. 

My talk first focused on differentiating genealogy from history. The simplest answer may be that genealogists are working on a microhistory level – examining one family, often one person at a time. Part of this process is also being a good historian. Having an idea about what happened on a local, state, national, or even international stage during an ancestor’s lifetime not only breathes more life into their story, but it can also help you locate more records.

A historian may start their research with a historical moment and be concerned with other historical moments in how they relate to their primary research interest. Genealogists are almost always working backward in time from the present. Tracing one family often requires working in a bit of a back-and-forth motion through time to prove connections between generations. The primary research interest of the genealogist is the family line, which means that numerous periods of history and places may be moved through. Therefore, genealogists must also be comfortable not being experts in any one period or location and need to adapt to learning about new people and places frequently. We rely on historians to ground us in that knowledge.

Genealogists are extremely concerned about proof, so when a claim is made connecting generations, genealogists demand thorough documentation before accepting the line. This is particularly true of lineage societies that have standards of proof that must be met for membership. When there is doubt, genealogists provide as much information as was located and use words like “probably” or “likely” in hopes that other researchers may be able to locate new information before we will accept it as fact.

However much we are concerned about dates, documents, and proof, we are ultimately storytellers. Genealogists are confronting history on an extremely personal level, one where deep feelings reside. We have an ability to make history relevant and emotional for ordinary people because it is personal. We have a responsibility to both truth-telling and understanding human experience. As Ryan Woods, President and CEO of American Ancestors, once wrote to me: “there's genealogy as evidence-based reconstruction, and there is genealogy as human meaning-making.” A good genealogist is in the business of doing both.

I have begun to see genealogy as a tool for generational healing – the intentional process of identifying and breaking inherited, negative family patterns to prevent them from affecting future generations. On an individual family level, this might look like emotional, physical, or behavioral trauma, but these things exist on a community and population level. Genealogy hits all the levels to this process – it is personal to one family (traits and trauma handed down), but family existed within a community that was affected by even greater systems. Bringing to light and acknowledging the past on a personal level creates a touchstone for people that struggle to find the relevance of history in the trajectory of their lives.

So how is genealogy working to preserve Black history? Much of my own work involves researching enslaved ancestors. The greatest challenge in this work is the lack of documentation for enslaved people, particularly records that help connect generations. I must always use the FAN method (Friends, Associates, and Neighbors) to locate records for individuals. This often requires casting a large net, gathering and keeping track of many names. Typically, I end up mapping out entire neighborhoods or communities of people that were enslaved by the same people. This involves an exploration of the enslavers and their families as well. With each thread, the network of power becomes more evident and more tangible. The web also reveals deep connections among the enslaved or formerly enslaved that go deeper than biology – to chosen families and the determination of one generation to care for those younger than them, regardless of what the brutality of slavery did to their family units.

John Harris Probate, Albemarle County, Virginia, 1832

 I used examples from some of my own research to demonstrate how a project focused on one family can quickly expand to one including everyone enslaved on one plantation, or even in how plantations in one region all connected to each other. Specifically, a project tracing one family led to a project of mapping out eight plantations owned by John Harris in Albemarle County, Virginia when he died in 1832.[i] Reconstructing family units at these sites reveal lived experiences of people that the record tried to silence. Documenting these stories gifts them to the next generation who will not have to go searching for their ancestors. These are truly American stories, ones that require a deep knowledge of history and records, but also the human experience.

Genealogy is expanding who sees themselves in the American story, particularly for groups that have been traditionally excluded from archives. It is not merely a research method, but rather it is actively changing the way archives and collections work and serve their communities. Collections overlooked by other scholars are valuable to the Genealogist, and as genealogy’s popularity grows, archives shift which collections are digitized or made more public in other ways. Genealogists’ search for Black ancestors has also forced archives to consider what collections the seek out for their archives and reflect on whose stories they are preserving.

Genealogical databases and projects, like 10 Million Names at American Ancestors and the GU272 Memory Project, aim to make it easier for the public to access this history. These initiatives are not only valuable to the genealogists even as they are genealogically motivated. They reveal records and stories that can be incorporated into academic work or at public history institutions. Genealogy is a leader in the charge to broadcast silenced voices from the past and its methods are valuable to anyone interested in reconstructing the past.

Sources

[i] John Harris Probate Inventory, 1832, Albemarle County, Virginia Will Books 11:171-180.