Baltimore group joins nationwide project to find information on 10 million enslaved in America

BALTIMORE - The Baltimore Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society is helping with a nationwide effort to centralize genealogical information about enslaved Africans and their families.

The group is working with "10 Million Names," a project designed to recover information on the estimated 10 million enslaved people in America.

"I belong here"  

The journey to learn about your ancestors can be a challenge for everyone, especially generations separated from families.

Jennifer Johnson completed a family photo book in 2021 after years of research.

"I belong here," Johnson said. "Yeah, Maryland is home for me and I feel connected here."

Johnson feels the connection knowing she can trace her family tree through multiple generations.

"I can trace my roots back on the Eastern Shore to the 1800s," Johnson said. "I can trace my roots back to Virginia to the 1700s. I know where I come from, so it really helps me to find out where I'm going."

That's not the case for everybody.

The struggle to find family records

Many African Americans struggle to find sources and records of family members -- another lasting legacy of centuries of slavery.

"Understanding one's history allows you to understand you, who you are as a person, better," said Andre Ferrell, the Baltimore Chapter President of the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society. "By looking back, we're able to understand how we've advanced as people, how we've had our struggles as a people, and how we've celebrated as a people."

Ferrell has been researching his family history for 15 years, and information is out there.

However, often, it takes legwork.

"You have to go to courthouses. You have to go to cemeteries," Ferrell said. "You have to ask challenging questions to people who may be holding records."

Family traced to Baltimore cemetery 

This past winter, Johnson traced her mother's family to West Baltimore's St. Peter's Cemetery in an effort to find her grandmother's grave.

"I asked my mother, if she could have anything in this world, what would it be?" Johnson said. "She said to find her mother's grave."

Anywhere between 400 and 1,500 African Americans are buried in St. Peter's Cemetery which had fallen into disrepair.

"Dream come true"

Johnson said a historical society in Virginia helped trace ancestors on her father's side, providing eight generations of records.

"I just sat on my bed and cried," Johnson said. "I cried probably for about a half hour because that was a dream come true for me and just not something."

"Start documenting their stories"

Johnson and Ferrell encourage people who want to learn more about their ancestors to be open and talk with their existing family.

"Start having interviews. Start understanding where they came from," Ferrell said. "Start documenting their stories."

"You will find some things that bring you to tears that are hard to fathom, but they all make a beautiful puzzle in the end," Johnson said.