Tracing Your Roots: When Was My ‘Freedman’ Ancestor Freed?
A message board posting listing “freedmen” kin raises questions.
Tracing Your Roots: Why Free Virginia Blacks Looked Over Their Shoulders
Finding Virginia forebears who lived uncertain lives in the shadow of the Nat Turner rebellion.
Tracing Your Roots: Were My Ancestors Freed in a Big Court Case?
The largest manumission case in U.S. history led to a unique community in Virginia.
Tracing Your Roots: Were My Ancestors Melungeon?
A find in the 1860 census catches a reader by surprise, and points to a possible heritage that is subject to debate.
Tracing Your Roots: How Did My Black Ancestor Come to Own Land?
Finding out how a great-grandfather came to own 300 acres of land in post-Civil War South Carolina.
Tracing Your Roots: Untangle My Redbone Heritage
A mystery illustrates how an 18th-century family became caught up in Virginia’s laws around race, sex and freedom.
Tracing Your Roots: Our Family Matriarch Was a White Indentured Servant
Untangling the origins of Virginian ancestors whose lives crossed boundaries of race, freedom and the law.
The Lynching of My Husband’s Ancestor Shocked a Nation
Dear Professor Gates:
