Tracking Ancestors in Slavery and After Emancipation

February 18, 2021Written by Robyn

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"While African-American genealogical research in many ways is like all genealogical research, the era of slavery makes the task especially challenging. The difficulties include using records that provide no surnames, the constant sale and breakup of families, and the lack of identification of fathers.

For descendants, I would add the substantial emotional impact of seeing an ancestor's name attached to a dollar value, or being valued in a list with silverware and cattle. Slavery's reach is still with us, and part of the gift of doing African-American genealogy is recovering the stories of those caught in its grasp who could not in their own time leave their own witness."

-Robyn

Maryland Genealogical Society Holiday Luncheon, December 2017-2

Washington FHC Annual Conference, May 2011

Baltimore Family History Conference, October 2017-2

International Black Genealogy Summit, September 2016-2

Carroll County Genealogical Society Dinner, June 2018

Baltimore Family History Conference, October 2017

Reginald Lewis Museum, September 2011-2.jpg

Maryland State Archives Family History Festival, October 2014-2

Central Maryland AAHGS Meeting, March 2013

Robyn, Vonda, Andrea and Glenn, NGS Conf., May 2014

Robyn and cousin Chris

Maryland Genealogical Society Holiday Luncheon, December 2017-1

Howard Comm. College, Advanced AA Gen Class, September 2011

AAHGS Annual Genealogy Conference, November 2008

Howard Comm. College Advanced AA Gen. Class, November 2012

Robyn, Aaron, Karen, Katherine and Michael, October 2014

Tim Pinnick and Robyn, October 2016

African-American Family History Conference, February 2015

African-American Genealogy Group Conference, October 2016

Central Maryland AAHGS, with Alice Harris, September 2015

Howard Comm. College, Advanced AA Gen. Class, September 2009

Reginald Lewis Museum, September 2011

Robyn and Aaron Dorsey, September 2016

Alice, Robyn and Lajoye, CM AAHGS, September 2017

Carole and Robyn, February 2016

Robyn and Cherie, October 2015

Robyn and Andrea, NGS Conference, May 2014

"The past is not dead. In fact, it's not even past."
-William Faulkner

"Call it a clan, call it a network, all it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one"
- Jane Howard

"Friends are God's apologies for relations."
-Hugh Kingsmill

"No matter what you've done for yourself or for humanity, if you can't look back on having given love and attention to your own family, what have you really accomplished?"
-Elbert Hubbard

"Families are like fudge; mostly sweet with a few nuts."
-Unknown

"If you can't get rid of the skeleton in your closet, you might as well make it dance!"
-Unknown

"Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city;)"
-George Burns

"Where does the family start? It starts with a young man falling in love with a girl. No superior alternative has yet been found."
-Winston Churchill

"The great gift of family life is to be intimately acquainted with people you might never ever introduce yourself to had life not done it for you."
-Kendall Hailey

"If you look deeply into the palm of your hand, you will see your parents and all the generations of your ancestors. All of them are alive in this moment. Each is present in your body. You are the continuation of each of these people."
-Thich Nhat Hanh

Reclaiming Kin

Tracking Ancestors in Slavery and After Emancipation

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