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 we share DNA. She asked if I had any probate records that might list people…
Blog Archives
The Gwynn’s Island Project Reconnects the Descendants of Black Island Families to their Roots
Tagged with: Ancestors, diaspora, Dolly Jones, Enslaved People, family history, Gwynn's Island, Hampton, James Henry Smith, Jim Crow Segregation (1890- 1955), land theft, linked descendants, Maria Montgomery, Mary T. Edwards, Mary T. Hudgins, Mary Tompkins Hunley, Mathews County, oral history, plantations, Slaveholders, Slavery, VA, Virginia, William Smith
Posted in Finding documents & doing research, Healing, repair & action, Linked Descendants, Slavery & its legacies
Posted in Finding documents & doing research, Healing, repair & action, Linked Descendants, Slavery & its legacies
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 to help continue the work of Coming to the Table…
Moved to Tears
When I read Gayle Jessup White’s essay in a recent post on “The Root,” I had such strong identification with it that I was moved to tears: Like most African Americans, oral history is my primary source for deep family…
Tagged with: Coming to the Table, genealogy, linked descendants, slaveholding, Slavery, Virginia
Posted in Finding documents & doing research, Slavery & its legacies
Posted in Finding documents & doing research, Slavery & its legacies
Being Linked Through Slavery Means …
Being a “linked descendant” puts racism and white privilege in a harsh light for me. It makes speaking out honestly about the legacy of slavery a personal and family imperative. I always knew that my mother’s ancestral roots went back…
