[ Dedication ] [ Table of Contents ]

[ Acknowledgements ] [ Foreword ] [ Prologue ] [ Opening Poem: The Greatest Human Right ] [ Introduction, Part 1 ] [ Introduction, Part 2 ] [ Introduction, Part 3 ] [ Introduction, Part 4 ]

The next phase of my journey involved searching for my ancestors on the United States Federal Census as far back as I could find them. This happened to be at a time before census information was readily available over the Internet, which meant my having to travel from Baltimore all the way to the National Archives in Washington , D.C. each and every time I wished to access the census records. Since I did not have a car at the time and could rarely convince someone who owned one to take me, I frequently had to use public transportation. This translated into approximately two hours of travel time each way by commuter train and subway. Added to this was the fact that the research room at the National Archives had limited hours. It always seemed that as soon as I was just getting into my research, it was time to wrap things up and leave.

Eventually, census, birth, marriage, death, land, military and other records became easily accessible online. Between the two forms of viewing the census online and manually searching through the Archives, I spent hours-on-end searching through pages and pages of documents in hopes of finding even the tiniest morsel of information. As I searched through these census records, in my mind’s eye it was as if I was actually traveling back through time to the different counties and townships of North Carolina . As I came upon different relatives’ households census year after census year, it seemed as if I was becoming personally acquainted with each family member. I could see how each person had progressed—or not—from one census year to the next. Sooner or later, though, reality would always set in and I would be abruptly whisked back through time to our present day as I sadly realized that these people were long gone, although they were with me on my mind day and night. Even though it had just been a daydream, or wishful thinking at best, I continued to pore through pages of census records because as long as I did, my ancestors lived with me in the moment and their lives opened up before me.

In addition to relying on oral family history, family bibles, the federal census, vital and other records, at the same time, I availed myself of college and university libraries, historical and genealogical societies and local newspapers. After several years of proceeding in this manner, I successfully uncovered a plethora of information on my family history. Much to my surprise, however, as I continued shaking the branches of my family tree, lo and behold, all sorts of different people started falling out, some with racially ambiguous bloodlines and obscure origins. The enslaved African Americans were there, indeed, in great numbers, but they were not alone for a number of free families of color accompanied them. Families who never knew slavery and whose family members had fought in the Revolutionary War. There were also people referred to by historians as White slaves, and somewhere along the line, a few Native Americans and Europeans entered into the picture.

Please come with me on a journey to uncover the roots of my African American family tree. Like a roller coaster, this journey  has been filled with gut-wrenching ups and downs and unexpected, sharp twists and turns. Although the journey may be difficult and hard to bear at times, still, what a fascinating and wonderfully fulfilling journey it is. Upon your return, you just might be tempted to make the trip for yourself into the search to uncover your family’s roots. I do offer one small word of caution, however. Do be careful as you begin to shake the branches of your family tree, for you never really know just who or what may fall out. You might discover some dark (or like me, some not-so-dark) little secret on one of the branches of your family tree. Some people have welcomed such discoveries with open arms while others have tried to prune these wild little branches. Still others have chosen death before dishonor. Whatever your discovery and reaction to it may be, know that once you have been bitten by the genealogy bug, your quest to uncover the secrets of the past may turn into a never-ending journey since the more you find out about your ancestors, the more you will likely want to know. Thus, such a journey may be ill-advised for the squeamish or the faint of heart. But if you are a truly courageous spirit and love an adventure, then I highly recommend that you make the journey yourself. You may never look at the past quite the same again. In fact, you may become connected to it like never before while at the same time becoming a part of living history in the making. You may also understand personal things about yourself that you never knew before in addition to gaining insight and direction into your life.

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