Help Me Find My People: How Archival Documents can Connect African Americans to Enslaved Ancestors

It’s a refrain heard time and time again with African Americans researching their ancestry, the challenges of getting past the 1870 “brick wall.”

Now there is a huge breakthrough that is unlocking information and helping families find one another, thanks to research by Reckoning, Inc.

Reckoning, Inc., in partnership with the Frazier History Museum, will share that research and how it ties back to ledger books created to keep track of African American men who joined the US Colored Troops (USCT) from Kentucky in the Civil War.

You’ll hear how a note passed at the foot of the L & N Railroad bridge in New Haven, Kentucky, to a Union Captain on December 30, 1862, opened the floodgates to information impacting thousands of families.

And you’ll learn about Louisa Taylor (the woman pictured), how this research has led to life-changing discoveries, and how it may be able to help your family.

ABOUT THE PROGRAM

Help Me Find My People: How Archival Documents can Connect African Americans to Enslaved Ancestors
Wednesday, February 8
Frazier History Museum

Doors Open: 5:30 p.m.
Gallery Access: 5:30–6 p.m.
Program: 6–7 p.m.

Admission: Free (Suggested $10 Donation)

MODERATOR:

Rachel Platt, Frazier History Museum

GUESTS:

Dan Gediman, Executive Director, Reckoning, Inc.
Abby Posey, Research Director, Reckoning, Inc.
Jackie Burrell, Volunteer Genealogical Researcher, Reckoning, Inc.
Charles Lemons, Military Historian

Thanks to the Gheens Foundation for supporting this program.