Throughout February, 草莓传媒 is celebrating聽Black History Month. Join us on air and online as we bring you the stories, people and places that make up our diverse community.
By day, Andre Kearns is a marketing director for Amazon Web Services. But when he鈥檚 not on the job, he鈥檚 untangling family histories 鈥� his own and other people鈥檚.
Kearns is a genealogist and a member of the board of the National Genealogical Society.
Currently, he鈥檚 leading a series of workshops at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library in the District of Columbia. The title, 鈥淏lack History Revealed: Navigating African American Genealogy and Celebrating Family Legacies,鈥� helps describe the challenges of delving into family histories that may or may not provide clear avenues to the past.
Kearns explained, 鈥淲e鈥檙e facing these brick walls with tracing our ancestors because of slavery.鈥�
But Kearns offers encouragement and told 草莓传媒 he has found success in his own quest to learn more about his family.
鈥淚鈥檝e been researching my family tree for 18 years now,鈥� he said, 鈥淚鈥檝e traced my own family roots back to as early as 1619,鈥� when the first Africans arrived in Colonial Virginia.
In his workshops, Kearns outlines a four-step approach to the process of digging up family roots.
The first step, said Kearns, is to create the family tree, documenting what you have. Number two, talk with family members, especially the elders in your family, 鈥渢o gather the family oral history to incorporate into your family tree.鈥�
Next, he said, use 鈥渢raditional records, where your family may be documented and recorded,鈥� like birth certificates, death notices, county and state records. A fourth strategy includes taking advantage of DNA testing 鈥渇or clues.鈥�
鈥淭here鈥檚 this notion that if you have enslaved ancestors that it鈥檚 difficult or impossible to find enslaved people,鈥� but he said, 鈥渢hat鈥檚 not true. There are tons of types of records where you can research enslaved people.”
Family Bibles are often the source of lots of valuable information and clues, said Kearns.
More information can be found in plantation records, said Kearns. 鈥淎nd then there are the family papers of enslavers that may have a lot of documentation,鈥� he added.
There are also federal records with information, including something called a 鈥渟lave schedule.鈥� The United States Census website explains that for the first time in 1850, free persons were listed individually instead of by family grouping, and enslaved people were documented in a separate census. More information can be found in wills, estate records and deeds, said Kearns.
And, Kearns notes, 鈥淧eople come from thousands of miles to come to Washington, D.C. to visit the Library of Congress, to visit the National Archives. We鈥檝e got a lot of tremendous research-enabling institutions right here in Washington to take full advantage of.鈥�
The search for information about family is a journey, and the trip can lead to some interesting places. Kearns explained that he discovered a link to Madame C.J. Walker, the first African American millionaire. Walker was a self-made businesswoman who developed a line of beauty products catering to African American women.
Kearns explained how he found that link: 鈥淭he connection is through my great-grandmother. Her name is Georgia Joyner. My mother passed down a copy of a 1917 contract for my great-grandmother Georgia Joyner to become a sales agent for Madame C.J. Walker in my great-grandmother鈥檚 hometown of Suffolk, Virginia.鈥�
Kearns learned that his great-grandmother was also a champion of education.
鈥淓ven though my great-grandmother was not afforded a high school education, she was responsible for establishing the high schools where my grandmother, her daughter, and my mother, her granddaughter, attended,” he said.
Discoveries like that can foster feelings of pride and an appreciation for the talents and drive of both distant and not-so-distant ancestors.
But Kearns said any family history can turn up painful chapters as well. And when that history includes the discovery of an enslaved relative鈥檚 name with a dollar value attached to it, that can generate some profound emotions.
鈥淧art of this research for African Americans is knowing yourself, knowing how you process this type of history,鈥� and allowing for time to digest it, he said.
With each discovery related to enslaved relatives in his own family, Kearns said, 鈥淚 cycle through the same set emotions each time, fresh. It鈥檚 sadness, it鈥檚 anger.鈥�
But, he added, 鈥淚t鈥檚 never shame.鈥�
He explained, 鈥淢y ancestors had the strength to endure what they endured and be so committed to future generations so that we could have the opportunities that we have.鈥�
There is a wait list for on Feb. 24, 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
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