How the Smithsonian Is Helping Black Americans Trace Their Roots

"Retired Marine Leander Holston had uncovered some interesting facts about his family. Using the genealogy website MyHeritage to build a family tree, he’d created an extensive database of relatives going back three generations on his father’s side. He learned about uncles he’d never met and discovered that the surname passed down to him by his father was only carried by a few of the men in his family.

But when it came to researching his mother’s roots, Holston wasn’t having as much success. Drawing on census records, he identified his maternal grandmother, whose maiden name was Dixie Pearson. Though a man named John or Henry Pearson appeared to be her father, their birth dates weren’t quite lining up. He was born in the 1870s; Holston had expected his great-grandfather to be born a few decades earlier, closer to the 1850s. Despite his best efforts, he was stumped.

Then, during a trip to Washington, D.C. for his wife’s birthday in August 2023, Holston visited the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC), where he stumbled upon the Robert Frederick Smith Explore Your Family History Center. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, visitors can sign up for free, in-person group genealogy sessions hosted by the center’s staff and volunteers. Hourlong, one-on-one virtual sessions are also available, so when Holston returned home to Pineville, North Carolina, he decided to turn to the NMAAHC genealogy team for advice from afar.

Genealogy reference assistant Lisa Crawley hosted Holston’s online session. She offered a different interpretation of the census records, suggesting Dixie’s presumed father was actually her brother. Holston attributes the confusion to the fact that the men seemingly shared the same name.

Techniques shared by Crawley showed Holston how to glean information more accurately from the data he finds. “That was a skill that I was lacking when I was trying to [conduct research] on my own without any help,” Holston adds. “The knowledge of how to actually go in and dig down … and follow a record through … was extremely beneficial to me.”

Genealogy researchers use military records, birth and death certificates, marriage licenses, wills, legal and court documents, and census records to help piece together the past. The resources referenced by NMAAHC’s team don’t currently include newspaper archives, which contain obituaries, but that “process is moving forward,” Crawley says..."
African American Genealogy