history
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What’s the Story of a Portrait of My Slave Ancestor?
I am seeking help to learn more about my third great-grandmother Elizabeth Bettie Lane Dickey. She was raised on Orchard Pond Plantation in Tallahassee, Fla. Her husband’s name was Hanover Dickey, and her mother’s name was Maria Lane. Richard Keith Call (who served twice as governor of Florida) was the plantation owner of Orchard Pond…
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How Far Back Can You Trace My Black Family?
I have a lot of questions regarding my family’s history. With my grandfather’s recent passing, I was compelled to finally write in. My maternal grandparents, Woodrow Kimble Jr. and Martha Belle Kimble, were born and raised in Shreveport, La. My grandfather was born on Dec. 30, 1943, and died on Nov. 7 of this year.…
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Parents File Complaint After Teacher's Racially Charged Explanation of Equality
The parents of a Folsom, Calif., middle schooler are furious after they say a teacher used a racially charged explanation in class, CBS Sacramento reports. The incident occurred at the Sutter Middle School and was prompted by a question from one of the students. “One of the kids raised their hand and asked the teacher…
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Oldest Member of the Tuskegee Airmen Dies in Fla. at 101
The oldest surviving member of the historic Tuskegee Airmen, Willie N. Rogers, died Friday in his hometown of St. Petersburg, Fla., at the age of 101, the Tampa Bay Times reports. According to the report, Rogers died of complications from a stroke. Rogers was a member of the renowned all-black Tuskegee Airmen, with whom he…
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Do Freedmen’s Bureau Records Show the Marriage of My Kin?
Many years ago, I located my maternal great-great-grandparents, Lucy Hoffman and Ben Hoffman, in census records for Mount Sterling, Ky. They are both listed in the 1870 census, with Lucy listed as being born circa 1803 in Georgia and Ben being born circa 1815 in Virginia. In the 1880 Mount Sterling census, only my great-great-grandmother…
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Using Genetic Testing to Better Understand the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade
The recent opening of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture is part of a long and slow national reckoning on race, but some chapters on race are still missing from our nation’s history. Documenting that history may be aided by a project recently launched by the direct-to-consumer genetics-testing company 23andMe. Our…
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Can You Help My Dad Find His Father?
I’ve been trying to help my dad, Samuel D. Jones, locate his father. His mother, Amolene Hughes Jackson, passed in 2000; however, she wouldn’t provide any information on who his father is. His aunt also has been reluctant in providing information, though she said my dad’s grandfather is Eutah/Utah Jones and his father is Alious or Delious…
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Did My Black Ancestor Move Farther South During Slavery?
I am trying to trace the roots of my paternal great-great-grandfather, Lucien Joshua. He relayed to the census taker in 1900 that his parents were born in South Carolina. At the time of the census, he lived in Ascension Parish. According to oral history accounts given by older relatives in my family, Lucien changed his name…
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I Know Who Owned My Ancestors. What Now?
I’ve managed to trace my family ancestry back to an Adalin and Alex Vinson. The records I have state that Adalin (the spellings of her name vary) was born around 1825 and died around 1915. Alex was born around 1820 and died around 1878. They had quite a few children, including my great-great-grandmother Sabre. I…