African American genealogy

There's no clear system in place to repatriate remains of captive Africans or objects associated with them.

When journalist Dorothy Tucker first learned about the 10 Million Names genealogical project, it helped amplify memories of long car journeys to “Down South."

The National Genealogical Society is one of the oldest, largest groups dedicated to helping families trace their ancestries.

"A lot has been hidden from Black Americans. And so there is always a longing to know who you are and where you come from.”

At three plantations in Charleston, S.C., Black descendants are connecting with their family’s history and helping reshape the narrative.

Trying to learn more about a woman named Ann led her descendants to confront a painful past; ‘I just wanted to know the truth.’

The Federal Writers’ Project narratives provide an all-too-rare link to our past.

Meditations on when you think you found the people who owned your people via DNA test.

David O. Stewart discusses the relationship between William Costin and the Washington bloodline.

The genealogy site fails to understand the fundamental differences between white and black history.

Regina Bradley searches for truths about her great-grandfather and his murder.

It's impossible for most black Americans to construct full family trees, but genetic testing can provide some clues.

In 1990, scholars found a Sierra Leonean woman who remembered a nearly identical version of a tune passed down by a Georgia woman’s enslaved ancestors

A bold new photographic project asks modern-day Americans to recreate portraits of their 19th-century ancestors in painstakingly accurate fashion.

No one should fear a history that asks a country to live up to its highest ideals.

"African Founders" corrects some of the ideological uses of Black American history.

Benjamin Prine's descendants didn’t know about their family ties – or their connection to his enslaver.

What the story of the Grimke family tells us about race in the United States.

Clashes between sovereignty rights and civil rights reveal an uncomfortable and complicated story about race and belonging in America.

Military experts seeking to identify partial skeleton in an anonymous grave.