“[The] act of uncovering Black lives and the communities that surround it provides a unique opportunity to investigate and reveal the cultural dimension of unearthing the micro-histories that have indeed shaped society and answers questions around identity, liberation, resistance, and struggle”
1855-1948
Led by Assistant Professor Dr. LaVerne Gray, the Uncovering Black Lives project will identify relationships and community structures of support for African American genealogists.
“My project is based on my dissertation research of my own ancestral community,” says Dr. Gray. “In the 1960s, my grandmother and a group of women campaigned for a library in their public housing community, and I thought researching how African Americans find their ancestral communities and their family collections were important for libraries. African American genealogies are different from other genealogical communities because they are descendent of enslaved people and those denied civil rights. I want to emphasize the importance of the information community activity of researching family and unique familial historic collections.”
-Dr. LaVerne Gray
Call for Participation: QR Code/Website for Eligibility Survey :
This project, RE-250139-OLS-21, was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
