10 Million Names to help discover Black family history

Ancestry Project Seeks to Recover Information for Descendants of Slaves

BY ASAR JOHN

NABJ’s opening ceremony wrapped up with the announcement of the 10 Million Names project, an initiative to recover family history for descendants of American slaves.

Ryan Woods, who’s the American Ancestors’ chief operating officer and executive vice president, told NABJ Monitor about the decision to announce the project at the NABJ 2023 convention in Birmingham.

“We wanted to bring this story to journalists who can help tell the 10 million names mission within their communities and nationally through larger, broadcast networks so that we can help individuals wherever they are,” said Woods.

Paula Madison, a long time member of NABJ, serves on the 10 Million Names advisory board, said it’s imperative for diasporic Africans to be aware of this resource being offered.

“We don’t know who we are, we don’t know our real names,” Madison said.

“There is a way to know those things, but for many of us, we’ve been so separated for generations that we believe it’s impossible.”

The project is managed under American Ancestors, an online repository for ancestral discovery, with a team of 100 research professionals. This week, convention participants sat down with a group of genealogists from 10 Million Names to consult with them about what information they could find regarding their family history.

To start, participants are asked to offer information they already know about their family. From there, the experts do their “magic,” combing through public resources like 10 Million Names itself, ancestry. com and FamilySearch.org to uncover or confirm family history.

“It’s not like a DNA test where you spit in a tube, come back two weeks later and we tell you how many cousins you have around the country or where you come from in Africa,” said Thom Reed, a genealogist with 10 Million Names. “We’re sitting down with you and going over anything we might have.”

Felicia Parks, a career advisor at American University, took part in Thursday’s sessions and described feeling more credible to become her family’s historian, following what she learned.

“I want to tell my family members, here’s a bunch of family members that we should really try to connect with,” said Parks, emphasizing the need for people to be educated about their origins. “Who knows, maybe there’s some things people have done in history that we want to be proud of.”

Kendall Williams, a junior at Florida A&M University attending her first NABJ convention, said that being a person of integrity is important, also saying that “it’s important to hold yourself accountable for your actions and that you’re a representation of the organization you’re a part of as well.

Of the four amendments proposed on this year’s election ballot, voting members now have until 5 p.m. Central Time Friday to vote yes or no. Two-thirds of the vote needed in order for the amendments to be passed.

Elijah Pittman contributed to this report.