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In The Telling: Black Family Podcast
This season, we discuss the challenges Black people encounter when researching our family history. We spotlight the experts whose work helps us forge meaningful connections to our ancestral stories. Here, we hand the mic over to genealogists as they share their unique journeys, professionally and personally.
Contact us if you would like to be a guest on the show.
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Original music by Sean Bempong
Season 3
In this episode, genealogist Bernice Alexander Bennett shares information about the Homestead Act of 1862, and why it's critical that African Americans know about the Homestead Act when researching their ancestry. If your family was listed as a farmer, Bennett says, it's important to check the Homestead Act records to see if your ancestors participated in this program. Bennett advises that, "you have to understand [that] while we identify the land, and we tell the story, there is also more to the story and that’s what happened to the land."
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Bernice Alexander Bennett is an award-winning author, genealogist, nationally recognized guest speaker, storyteller, and producer-host of the popular research at the National Archives and Beyond BlogTalkRadio program. She is also the first recipient of the Ida B. Wells Service Award given by the Sons and Daughters of the United States Middle Passage for her dedication to broadcast stories about enslaved and indentured ancestors of African descent. She also received the Elizabeth Clark-Lewis Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society (AAHGS) Genealogy Award in 2019 for original research in support of African American Genealogy. Bennett is on the Board of Directors for the National Genealogical Society and one of the founder’s of the Midwest African American Genealogy Institute,
Bennett--a New Orleans native and current resident in Maryland--enjoyed a 35-year career in domestic and international public health. She received an undergraduate degree from Grambling State University and a graduate degree in Public Health from the University of Michigan.
Her genealogical research centers on Southeast Louisiana, Edgefield and Greenwood Counties of South Carolina. Her South Carolina journey is chronicled in Our Ancestors, Our Stories, which won the 2018 International AAHGS Book award for Non-Fiction Short Stories. Her second book Tracing Their Steps - A Memoir received the Phillis Wheatley Literary Award from the Sons and Daughters of the United States Middle Passage in 2019; the International AAHGS Book Award in 2020 for Non-Fiction Short Story and, the Next Generations Indie Award in 2021 for African American Non-Fiction book category.
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Links
In this episode, genealogist Guy Weston falls in love with genealogy while researching 19th-century plot records purchased by his great great great great-grandfather on his mother's side. He learned the names of his ancestors and their descendants, fueling his obsession with genealogy. Guy’s mother initially thought she inherited this property when a cousin gave her the deed. However, they quickly learned it also belonged to several distant cousins, as new deeds were not executed over the years as one generation died and passed it on to the next. Guy’s introduction to genealogy was searching microfilm to look for these potential heirs.
Guy has been engaged in genealogy research for 30 years, with a substantial focus on his maternal ancestors in Timbuctoo, NJ, where his fourth great-grandfather bought his family's plot in 1829. He says today’s online databases and DNA testing have changed the landscape of what Black folks can find. He encourages all his friends to find their roots. At present, Guy manages the Timbuctoo Historical Society, is a Visiting Scholar at Rutgers University, and serves as editor of the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society Journal. He maintains a website at www.timbuctoonj.com.
In this episode, genealogist Melvin Collier talks about how he became involved in researching his family's history. From the age of 4, Melvin enjoyed listening to stories about his family. By 1993, he was actively searching archives for family records. Learn about how a DNA test and a trip to Ghana resulted in a surprise transcontinental family reunion.
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Melvin has been conducting historical and genealogical research for over 25 years. He’s a former civil engineer, who later earned a Master of Arts degree in African American Studies at Clark Atlanta University, in 2008, with additional graduate coursework in Archival Studies from Clayton State University. For seven years, Melvin worked as a Library Associate/Archivist at the Robert W. Woodruff Library – Atlanta University Center. He now works for the Department of Defense in the Washington, D.C. area. Melvin has appeared on the NBC show, Who Do You Think You Are, as one of the expert genealogists on the Spike Lee episode in 2010. He has given numerous presentations on genealogy, slave ancestral research, and genetic genealogy at numerous events and conferences. Melvin is the author of three books: Mississippi to Africa: A Journey of Discovery (2008), 150 Years Later: Broken Ties Mended (2011) and Early Family Heritage: Documenting Our Legacy (2016).
In this episode, LaBrenda Garrett-Nelson talks about the mystical aspect of doing genealogy: how the ancestors seem to guide you in uncovering their stories.
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LaBrenda is a trustee and President of the Board for Certification of Genealogists. She also serves as the Registrar General of the Sons and Daughters of the United States Middle Passage, a lineage society that honors ancestors who were enslaved in the United States. LaBrenda earned a BA from John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York, and both a Law degree and a Master of Laws degree from the New York University School of Law. After working as a corporate tax attorney for thirty-five years, she retired in 2013 and turned her attention to her longtime avocation of Genealogy. She is now a full-time genealogist focused on writing and teaching at National institutes and conferences. Her 2016 guide to researching in her SC home county was hailed by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution as a model for research in SC and other states.
Links
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Books
In this episode, Lynne Huggins Smith shares a story about her 4th great grandfather, Caesar Springfield. Although Lynne knew she was a seventh generation New Yorker, she discovered that Caesar and his wife Mary, in fact were from New Jersey. And although she knew of her great grandmother Edith, and Edith’s mother Sarah, Lynne was inspired to dig deeper into her family research.
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Lynne grew up in Nanuet, New York where her family moved from the Bronx. She has been doing family research since the sixties and is a former officer and current membership chair of the New York City chapter of the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society, Inc. Her family lived in New York, New Jersey, Virginia, Neevis and Suriname. Lynne is currently researching the ancestors of all four grandparents from those places and beyond. She has a Master’s degree in anthropology from the University of Michigan and completed coursework for the PhD in American history from Emory University. Lynne spent her career as a financial planning and investment professional, retiring in 2015. She lives in New York state with her husband of over forty years. She has three children and four grandchildren. ​​
In this episode, Kelly Navies shares a great story of how one 19th Century family photograph launched a genealogical journey of discovery that involves the Underground Railroad, the Civil War, and Reconstruction.
Kelly Navies is an oral historian, writer, and poet. She coordinates the Oral History Initiative at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Navies has degrees in African American Studies and Library and Information Science from the University of California, Berkeley, and the Catholic University of America, respectively. She has also studied at the Southern Oral History Program at UNC Chapel Hill. Navies’ oral history projects and interviews are located at the Southern Oral History Program, The Reginald F. Lewis Maryland Museum of African American History and Culture, the Washington DC Public Library, and the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Her writing can be found in several publications including, June Jordan’s Poetry for The People: A Revolutionary Blueprint, edited by Lauren Muller, and Bum Rush the Page: A def poetry jam, edited by Tony Medina and Louis Reyes Rivera.
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Links
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Here’s a great website for anyone interested in Black politicians during Reconstruction: https://much-ado.net It is run by a librarian at Mississippi State University.
Books
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Krewasky Salter. The Story of Black Military Officers, 1861-1948. London: Taylor and Francis, 2015.
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Pamela Peters. The Underground Railroad in Floyd County, Indiana. North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2001.​
In this episode, Deborah Robinson talks about Bob Robinson, her great-great-grandfather, who was born on Edisto Island, Charleston County, South Carolina, and the land she inherited from him.
Deborah Robinson has been a genealogist for more than 25 years. Born in Harlem and raised in the Bronx, Deborah's specialty is African American research in the southeastern United States, particularly the Gullah/Geechee culture of the South Carolina Lowcountry. Deborah holds certificates from the Boston University Center for Professional Education in Genealogical Research and the Professional Genealogy (ProGen) Study Program.
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She also holds a bachelor’s degree in speech communications from Syracuse University. Deborah has worked as a Research Manager at Ancestry.com's ProGenealogists division and is currently the 2nd Vice President and Webmaster for the Jean Sampson Scott Greater New York Chapter of the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society.
Links
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Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society, Jean Sampson Scott Greater New York Chapter: https://aahgs-newyork.org/
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Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor Commission: https://gullahgeecheecorridor.org/
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Lowcountry Africana: https://lowcountryafricana.com/
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Donna Cox Baker and Frazine K. Taylor, The Beyond Kin Project: Descendants of Slaveholders, Do We Still Hold a Key?: https://beyondkin.org/
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Enslaved: Peoples of the Historical Slave Trade: https://enslaved.org/
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Stacy Ashmore Cole, They Had Names: African Americans in Early Records of Liberty County, Georgia: https://theyhadnames.net/
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Newberry Library, Atlas of Historical County Boundaries: https://digital.newberry.org/ahcb/index.html
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Discover Freedmen: http://www.discoverfreedmen.org/
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Toni Carrier and Angela Walton Raji, Mapping the Freedmen's Bureau: https://mappingthefreedmensbureau.com/
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Ancestry.com, U.S. Freedmen's Bureau Records: A Breakthrough for Black Family History: https://www.ancestry.com/cs/freedmens?o_iid=116303&o_lid=116303&o_sch=Web+Property
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International African American Museum: Center for Family History [Charleston, South Carolina]: https://cfh.iaamuseum.org/
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FamilySearch.org Research Wiki: African American Genealogy: https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/African_American_Online_Genealogy_Records
Books
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Nick Lindsay, And I'm Glad: An Oral History of Edisto Island (Charleston, South Carolina: Tempus Publishing, Inc., 2000).
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Charles Spencer, Edisto Island, 1663 to 1860: Wild Eden to Cotton Aristocracy (Charleston, South Carolina: The History Press, 2008).
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Charles Spencer, Edisto Island, 1861 to 2006: Ruin, Recovery and Rebirth, (Charleston, South Carolina: The History Press, 2008).
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Lorenzo Dow Turner, Africanisms in the Gullah Dialect (Columbia, South Carolina: University of Chicago Press, 1949).
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De Nyew Testament: The New Testament in Gullah, Sea Island Creole with Marginal Text of the King James Version, (New York, New York: American Bible Society, 2005).​
In this episode, singer and songwriter Sean Bempong, who provided the intro music for In the Telling, discusses how censor reports spearheaded his research--uncovering a rich family history. As a small child, his grandma, Lillie, would often ask him, "Who is that person, and how are they related to us?" This question sparked Sean's interest in genealogy, and by the age of 18, he began researching census reports at the Kirn Memorial Library in downtown Norfolk to discover more information about the ancestors his family remembered in tales and photographs.
From the Deep Creek of Virginia, Bempong was raised between Chesapeake and Norfolk. His maternal family has resided in various parts of the state since the 1600s and has actively preserved their records, wanting this knowledge to be passed on to future generations. Sean is also half Ghanaian.
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Holding a BA in Psychology from Norfolk State University, Sean graduated Magna Cum Laude and has a Masters degree in Anthropology from the American University in Cairo.
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