Enslaved People - BitterSweet

Research & Finding Documents

DNA Proved that my Great-Great Grandmother was Fathered by her Enslaver

"DNA doesn’t lie," genealogist Charlotte Bocage explains her essay in The Searcher (Summer 2003, Vol 60, No 3, pp. 63-65, a publication of the Southern California Genealogical Society). "I am…

Charlotte BocageSeptember 8, 2023

Healing, Repair & Action

You Owe Me What was Always Mine

"You owe me what was always mine" is the title of Briayna Cuffie's latest blog post on reparations4slavery.com. She is speaking to enslavers whose family records, letters, journals, photos, plantation…

BitterSweet EditorsFebruary 15, 2021

History, Culture, People, Places & Events

The Gwynn’s Island Project Reconnects the Descendants of Black Island Families to their Roots

Maria S. Montgomery & Allison Thomas Maria Montgomery found me on Ancestry.com in 2016. Our family trees overlap because my ancestors enslaved hers. We are “linked descendants”—cousins regardless of whether…

Allison ThomasJanuary 19, 2021

Research & Finding Documents

Healing Historic Harms Through Research — Sharon Leslie Morgan

Sharon Leslie Morgan moved to Noxubee County, Mississippi to research her ancestors’ history. Morgan’s great-great-grandmother, Betty Warfe Gavin, was enslaved there, and gave birth to 17 children. The father of…

Sharon Leslie MorganJanuary 4, 2021

History, Culture, People, Places & Events

Cast In Bronze

-- By Trina Michelle Robinson I’ve always been fascinated by migration stories. Hearing the details about why a person left the place of their birth to settle somewhere new always…

BitterSweet EditorsDecember 22, 2020

Linked Descendants

“There was Nothing We Could Do About it”

Violet Craig Turner (1828-1906) When I was a child, Uncle George's stories and the serious inflection in his voice always commanded my attention. He frequently told me about…

Antoinette BroussardOctober 23, 2020

Research & Finding Documents

Gathering African American Families’ Oral Histories – The Getting Word Project: African American Stories from Monticello – Part One of Three

So many of us want to know our ancestors’ stories and find out more about where we’ve come from. DNA research has advanced our ability to find and learn about…

Prinny AndersonMarch 28, 2017

History, Culture, People, Places & Events

Brattonsville Experience

-- Story by Quest Whalen, Class of 2019, Tuskegee University, submitted kindness of Dr. Lisa Bratton, Professor, Tuskegee University Dr. Bratton shared Ms. Whalen’s essay soon after their overnight at…

Prinny AndersonNovember 16, 2016

Slavery & Its Legacies

No Account For It

While drafting the post Half-white Slaves of Aristocratic Masters at my blog, I acknowledged that Edward Ball, in his text, The Sweet Hell Inside: The Rise of an Elite Black Family in…

Roger David HardestyJune 19, 2016

Linked Descendants

Linked Through Stories and History

Today is Giving Tuesday, the day when we turn our focus away from purchasing and toward giving to work that we care about. We hope you will consider a donation…

Andi Cumbo-FloydDecember 1, 2015