College of Charleston to host ‘Last Seen: Finding Family After Slavery’ – October 17
October 11, 2018
The College of Charleston Friends of the Library and the Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture are collaborating with Judith Giesberg, professor of history at Villanova University, to highlight a new tool for researching African American ancestors. The program entitled Last Seen: Finding Family After Slavery will be held on October 17, 2018 in Randolph Hall beginning at 6:00 p.m.
Reconstructing one’s family tree has never seemed easier. Billions of genealogical records are accessible online, while DNA kits promise to unlock a person’s history with nothing more than a cheek swab. For many researchers seeking African American ancestors, however, piecing together stories of separation and survival during enslavement, emancipation, and the Civil War requires creative approaches to family history.
The new tool, Last Seen: Finding Family after Slavery, offers free access to digitized “Information Wanted” advertisements placed in newspapers by former slaves and United States Colored Troops searching for family members lost by sale, flight, or enlistment. The ads mention family members, often by name, but also by physical description, circumstances of separation, last seen locations, and at times by the name of a former slave master. The earliest ads appeared in papers in 1863, and they continued for more than three decades.
Last Seen allows users to search these ads by proper names, locations, circumstances of separation, military regiments, and events. Dr. Giesberg will demonstrate and discuss the project in a conversation moderated by Dr. Patricia Williams Lessane, the Avery Research Center’s executive director.
The program is free and open to the public. Registration is required: findingfamily.eventbrite.com
