Family Tree Girl

On this episode of The Neighborhood Law Center, I joined host Melvin Burruss for a conversation about why tracing African American ancestry can be especially challenging — and how families can still build strong, evidence-based histories.

We talked about how the law shaped the way Black lives were recorded. Because enslaved people were legally treated as property, they were often excluded from early censuses or listed only in separate slave schedules without names. Add in missing, destroyed, or scattered records, and it’s easy to see why African American genealogy comes with unique obstacles. We also addressed the emotional side of this work, including family silence and common myths, like the idea that most formerly enslaved people automatically took the surnames of enslavers. Understanding what our ancestors endured — and what they accomplished — can be a powerful source of clarity, pride, and connection.

In the video, I share practical strategies I’ve learned over more than three decades of research, as well as through my work with the University of Virginia and the International African American Museum. I walk through the importance of starting with what you already know, talking with elders, defining a clear research question, and building a documented timeline before diving into records. I also explain why the Freedmen’s Bureau is my go-to source for the slave and immediate post–Civil War period, and why records from censuses, courthouses, and local historical societies should always be treated as clues that need to be confirmed.

I also introduce some of the tools and projects I use and teach, including the Midwest African American Genealogy Institute’s “So What” chart for document analysis, as well as my work identifying descendants of enslaved laborers at the University of Virginia and supporting the memorial to those laborers.

If you’d like to continue this work, I invite you to connect with me at FamilyTreeGirl.com, follow the Finding Enslaved Laborers at UVA Facebook page, or join me for Freedmen Bureau Friday, where I help people — especially those with roots in central Virginia — learn how to use these records to recover and document their family histories.