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Slaves Search For Their Families in News...

Slaves Search For Their Families in Newspapers

After emancipation, former slaves placed thousands of ads in newspapers in search of sold-away spouses and children. These ads are just one more source that document the sale of millions of enslaved people. False Reasons Slaveowners conjured up many reasons to justify the buying and selling of people, especially when breaking up families. One was that […]

Cluster Research Reunites Sisters

Cluster Research Reunites Sisters

Getting better at genealogical research involves many different skills. One important skill is learning how to find relationships when no document states the relationship. Cluster Research is a research technique that can overcome this problem. The early years of research are filled with the “low hanging” fruit of easily found census and other online records. […]

Community History in Newspapers

Community History in Newspapers

Newspapers provide details about communities that cannot be found anywhere else. Once a time consuming source to search, great strides have been made by providers,  including the Library of Congress, in their digitization. Chicago Defender: A Brief History The Chicago Defender was founded in 1905 by Robert Abbott and catered to an African-American population. It […]

Mind of the Slaveowner: Runaway Ads

Mind of the Slaveowner: Runaway Ads

Runaway Ads for enslaved people throughout Maryland are available online at the  Maryland State Archives’ Legacy of Slavery database. The ads tell us much about the mind of the slaveowner. Here are some of my observations: 1) Slaveowners knew a surprising amount of information about enslaved families. This also speaks to the extended kinship communities that […]

Met His Fate by the Rope Route: Lynching

Met His Fate by the Rope Route: Lynching

This country has a long history of racism, white supremacy, Jim Crow and discrimination. Violence is at the core of those systems. Without violence, they couldn’t exist. Far from being passive or willing subjects, African and Native peoples and their descendants fought back in myriad ways. That’s why slave rebellions were often dealt with by […]

Black Newspapers Break a Brick Wall!

Black Newspapers Break a Brick Wall!

Recently, I solved a genealogical mystery that I’d had for many, many years.  The solution utilized many tools. However, black newspapers and the ease now of searching of them deserves the biggest praise for solving the puzzle. My friend Tim Pinnick has been preaching and teaching about black newspapers for years (you can watch one of his […]

 
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