I had a chance to visit the Whitney Plantation museum in Edgard, Louisiana on Sunday, the first in the United States to focus exclusively on slavery. The visit was an emotional 180 after celebrating a very different kind of history the day before - my 30th High School Reunion. … [Read more...]
Follow Friday: Can the 1852 Constitutional Convention of Louisiana help find my Enslaved Family?
In the binders in my office that are full of my family's history, I keep lists of things to follow up on. Recently I checked something off the top of one such follow-up list that might help shed some light on what happened to my great, great-grandmother's enslaved family. The … [Read more...]
Treasure Chest Tuesday: The family historian
Yesterday's New York Times article "A Glimpse Into the Life of a Slave Sold to Georgetown" reminded me just how much genealogy is a group effort. It took a network of people, from descendants of the enslaved and slave owners to historians and archivists to get that remarkable … [Read more...]
Treasure Chest Thursday: Stirling Family Papers
Google is the gift that keeps on giving. After finding out that a Dr. Stirling owned some of my great, great-grandmother Tempy's relatives, I punched his name and a few other facts into the search engine and was thrilled when a collection of papers popped up. According to … [Read more...]