African American genealogy

In "A Nation of Descendants," Francesca Morgan traces the American use and abuse of genealogy from the Daughters of the American Revolution to Roots.

For nearly all of its modern existence, the Great Dismal Swamp has been excluded from U.S. history. Now there’s a push to bring its significance to light.

DNA tests have become popular tools to rediscover lost ties to the past, but the links they forge do not always stand up to historical scrutiny.

From Phillis Wheatley to Lil Uzi Vert, Black names and their evolution tell the story of America.

Unearthing the Black history in America’s national parks.

The poet’s memoir Generations is both a chronicle of her ancestral lineage and lesson in the centrality of Black women to the story of American history.

Efforts to rescue African American burial grounds and remains have exposed deep conflicts over inheritance and representation.

The little-known story of Robert Carter III.

For centuries, stories of Black communities have been limited by racism in the historical record. Now we can finally follow the trails they left behind.

My ancestors were enslaved—but their freedom came at a price for others.

A Virginia congressman has filed a bill to make the swamp a National Heritage Site.

The ironies abound in the story of Reed, who made it possible to erect the statue that remains on the top of the Capitol dome today.

Holt Cemetery has been filled to capacity many times over; each gravesite has been used for dozens of burials.

Enslaved.org will allow anyone to search for individual enslaved people around the globe in one central online location.

A review of "Descent" – a family story that blends the real world and the imagination.

Sometimes I learned more Black history in a week at home than I did in a lifetime of Februarys at school.

My whole life, my mother told me, ‘Always remember — you’re a Madison. You come from African slaves and a president.’

Richmond has a long-forgotten graveyard that is the resting place for hundreds of slaves. Will a new railway be built over it?

On Ancestry's dangerous move to make it harder to discern which white families owned slaves.

At Prospect Hill, people came from as far as Liberia for an unlikely gathering that led to a scene of visible emotion – with ‘a lot to talk about.'