American Ancestors: 10 Million Names Project
On August 24, 2023 at 3:00 p.m. EDT, I watched a webinar hosted by American Ancestors® & New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS), which debuted the 10 Million Names project. For context, American Ancestors® is the oldest genealogical organization in the country, established in Boston, MA during 1845. The organization has supported research and publications for over 175 years. Currently, the organization employees about 95 full-time staff, shares 1.4 billion digital records, holds 28 million original manuscripts, and acts as a filming location for the hit PBS television show Finding Your Roots hosted by Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. During this webinar, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Ryan J. Woods introduced the session by explaining that the intent of the project is to identify and recover names of the approximately ten million people of African descent who were enslaved in early America from 1500 to 1865. This project will be a collaboration between genealogists, historical organizations, and community historians.
Three notable experts in the field joined Woods on the call:
- Dr. Kendra T. Field works at the Center for the Study of Race and Democracy at Tufts University, along with co-founding the African American Trail Project at Tufts, the DuBois Forum, and the DuBois Freedom Center in Great Barrington, MA. In 2018, she published the book Growing Up with the Country: Family, Race, and Nation after the Civil War.
- Dr. Kerri Greenidge works with Dr. Field at Tufts as a professor in the Department of Studies in Race, Colonialism, and Diaspora and co-founded the DuBois Freedom Center. In 2022, she published the book Grimkes: The Legacy of Slavery in an American Family.
- Lindsay Fulton is Vice President of Research and Library Services at NEHGS, where she has worked for twelve years. She was featured on Finding Your Roots: The Seedlings, an online video program teaching genealogy to children.
Dr. Field explained the meaning behind the title of the project. While 4 million African Americans became free at the time of emancipation in 1865, about 10 million were enslaved between 1500 and 1865. Additionally, about 44 million living descendants currently live in the United States. These descendants often hit the “1870 Brick Wall” when researching their family history. The 1870 U.S. Federal Census was the first one conducted after Emancipation. The goal of the project is to establish a comprehensive, document-based research repository of African and Native American ancestors before the wall. This will allow NEHGS to amplify the voices of people that have endured for centuries despite deliberate attempts to erase their knowledge.
Dr. Field used the example of “Ashley’s Sack”, an artifact previously held at Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC). The sack was given to a nine-year-old girl, Ashley, by her mother, Rose, before the pair was separate, sold, and never reunited. Ashley’s granddaughter Ruth stitched the story of the sack on its side, inspiring historian Tiya Miles to write the award-winning book All that She Carried: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, a Black Family Keepsake. NEHGS hopes to use artifacts like these to connect historic people to modern day descendance, as psychological studies have shown that “the more children know about their family’s history, the stronger their sense of control over their lives and the higher their self-esteem”.
Fulton then described the five flagship projects in the 10 Million Names umbrella. Making America: Records of Enslaved Laborers with and beyond the Plantation will cover antebellum censuses, financial and personal records of enslavers, Bibles, other plantation records, records held by colleges and universities, and property records. On the Battlefield: Records of Soldiers, Veterans, and Refugees relies on military and veteran records, including documents from the Freedmen’s Bureau. Journeys to Liberation: Records of Mariners, Migrants, and Freedom Seekers covers mostly court records along with papers from abolitionist groups, maritime records, newspaper advertisements, and oral histories about the Underground Railroad. Community Building: Records of Black Institutions holds the abundance of church records, along with documentation from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and other education based organizations. Finally, Remembering Slavery: Testimonials after Emancipation will serve as the “the most powerful and poignant and detailed records of formerly enslaved people” as it contains a huge number of oral histories and lost fiends advertisements from Black and abolitionist newspapers. Fulton asks that people search their attics for VHS tapes, audio cassettes, and other forms of old technology that might contain oral histories and can be digitized by NEHGS.
Fulton led a walkthrough of the beautiful new website, declaring that “free is the theme of the day”, as most of the interactive content is free and publicly accessible. I loved the “Map” feature on the website, which was created using U.S. Census data from 1790 to 1860 and now tracks what free and enslaved populations looked like in each state. The well-organized “Search” feature combined thirty-three different databases. Users can search an individual database or all at the same time using record type, location, or keywords. Fulton suggests starting with a broad search result and narrowing down to a specific type of record. Each record holds additional information such as its name, directory location, description of the context in which the record was created, and an image of the original information. Fulton encouraged users to study the original record, as these often hold additional data than what appears on the results page.
The website provides the opportunity for genealogists to share what they have learned about their family, especially information that cannot be found elsewhere. Users can complete a questionnaire, upload a family tree using the standard FamilySearch GEDCOM (Genealogical Data Communication) file format, add notes, share oral histories, provide original materials, and submit records from religious texts like family Bibles.
At the end of the webinar, all four speakers returned to the screen for the Q&A. During this segment, speakers clarified the role of the census, connections between people of the African Diaspora, beliefs and myths to be aware of while researching family histories, and the importance of oral histories. The speakers emphasized that all records potentially related to their goal of finding ten million names are valuable, including those submitted by the descendants of enslavers. They reiterated the partnerships NEHGS has made with other popular history and genealogy organizations, including Enslaved.org and FamilySearch.
While I have a high level of knowledge of African American history before the Civil War, especially in New England, I am only starting to become more familiar with genealogy techniques and resources. This webinar did an incredible job of introducing a new database system while giving additional information about the types of materials stored in the system. I look forward to exploring the 10 Million Names project and watching the database expand as more records and stories are rediscovered.