I am Latina but pass as White

[BumRushDaShow]

76. A bit OT but...

The whole idea of "genealogy" really got a boost when "Roots" aired in 1977. I was in high school then and the idea of we AAs tracing our African ancestors was previously anathema because of the expectation that the continual mixing of the generations through plantation sales, random inter-marriages (or better, joinings), and acts of rape, would mean an impossible task. But oddly enough, because slaves were considered "property" with a "cost", there were some meticulous records kept by many of the owners, sellers, and shippers (as Alex Haley found out) and any records that survived the centuries offered a wealth of information to at least get some side of the family traced.

The Griot of West Africa (and equivalent in other cultures around the world) kept the "history" and genealogy of the clan/tribe (and was specially trained and groomed by a successor), and if one could find that individual in societies that still maintain them, then whole lines of a family could be discovered. I have posted elsewhere that the sequel miniseries "Roots: The Next Generations", was as powerful as the first miniseries in terms of showing the AA existence here post-Civil War through to the 1970s, and notably the discussion of tracing one's "origins" through records along with oral histories... with the rare individual having the resources, being able to trace at least one line back to a clan.

(it's a shame that the above video excerpt at the conclusion of that 2nd miniseries just got me in tears once more as it illustrates just how "lost and disconnected" so many of us are)