Black Archives in KC is now showing African Americans how to uncover their roots

Since 1974 The Black Archives of Mid America has served Kansas City as the custodian of Black history in the metro. This year, it adds to that mission by offering courses to assist Black residents in uncovering their roots.

“We had lots of people constantly calling us over the years to ask us if we could help them find records on their family,” said Carmaletta M. Williams, CEO at the Black Archives. “We don’t have the staff, but now we can show them how to find it.”

The course provides novice researchers with information on navigating the daunting task of sifting through generations of records.

The organization’s archivist, Laura Dillard and Preston Washington from the Mid-West Genealogical Interest Coalition (MAGIC) lead the courses. The archives asks that those attending bring as much research information as possible to help them with their search. Often people are starting at square one, with only a few names and dates of births.

Representatives at the Black Archives know firsthand the challenge of trying to piece together a story with missing pieces. Because of hundreds of years of slavery and record keeping that reflected Black slaves as property instead of people, the information some are tracking can only go back so far.

“A lot of folks come to us and tell us they have always wanted to do it but just don’t know how,” said Dillard. “If you are coming in and want to use our computers we can show you the programs and our instructor from MAGIC will help lead them through certain things and help them to learn what to use to find specific information.”

Using online resources, researchers can look at census records, birth certificates, obituaries, year books and cemetery cards.

The courses, a recent endeavor, are made possible from grants from Country Club Bank, The Hall Family Foundation and the Kaufman Foundation.

Those grants cover the cost of genealogy software that carries an annual subscription price of more than $4,000. Though the endeavor is a pricey one, Williams believes that as the keepers of Black Kansas City history, the task goes hand in hand with the purpose of the Black Archives.

“It is our job and mission to collect, preserve, share and educate people on the history and culture of people of African descent, so it is important for us to provide the means,” Williams said.

Learning about ones family history and trying to take the research back hundreds of years really caught on with the increased popularity of the PBS series “Finding Your Roots,” with Henry Louis Gates, Jr., a Black Harvard University professor, who explores the ancestry of well-known people.

Gates, on his show, has often made it clear that though discovering family history has become easier for the average person in recent years with sites and services like Ancestry.com and 23 and Me, tracing Black roots is far more challenging due to the intentional tearing apart of Black families during slavery.

Williams says that she has also gone through the process of doing research into her own family’s background. While researching she was able to trace her family back generations. She believes it is an undertaking that is well worth the work and research. She does warn that some people may be hesitant to discover family secrets but those hard answers are apart of the process.

“Family history is a form of white privilege and knowing where you come from is a privilege to be able to trace your family all the way back to Queen Victoria,” said Williams. “People aren’t trying to find this information for their own satisfaction. Slavery erased our sense of who we are as a people and we are just now trying to find the answers.”

For information on the next course visit blackarcvhives.org.