Tag: slavery

  • Slaveholders in the Halls of Congress

    Taking a break from going through the old articles and things I’ve saved, let’s turn to a an article from the Washington Post published earlier this week. As the title indicates, the Post’s article explores slaveholders in Congress. Many of us know that the vast majority of antebellum presidents at one point or another owned…

  • African Descent in African Americans

    A study published last week explores the long-lasting impact of the Atlantic triangle trade of slaves on the genetic makeup of present day African Americans. Genetic genealogy can break down many of what we genealogists call brick walls, where paper records and official documentation prevent researchers from moving any further back in time. In American…

  • Angela from Jamestown

    Today we move from royalty to slavery. Earlier this week the Washington Post published an article about an African woman (girl?) named Angela. She was forcibly removed from West Africa to Luanda in present-day Angola. From there she was crammed into a slave ship and sent towards Spanish colonies in the Caribbean. Before she arrived,…

  • Why the Civil War?

    Yesterday, President Trump asked why there had been no discussion about the causes of the Civil War. No, that is not a joke. Well, Mr. President, turns out that there has been quite a bit of discussion over the last few years. And the broad consensus? Note the above, with the darker shaded counties representing those…