AAGSNC Bookshelf
Looking for a book to inspire you in your research? Or maybe you’re just looking for a great read? We’ve curated a list of books that might just fill the bill. Some have been written by noted genealogists, our guest speakers, or even our own members. So snuggle up, grab that cup of whatever comfort you choose and dig in!
AAGSNC Member Kathy Lynne Marshall, a Black Ancestor Biographer, always craved to know who her ancestors were. She has been researching her multi-racial family lines since 1976, working as a kind of Diversity and Inclusion Specialist on behalf of our ancestors. She’s written eight books that represent 40 years of collecting family history information and seven years of publishing the stories of formerly-enslaved African Americans from Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, and Maryland, and their descendants in Ohio and California. The subject matter of her most recent book, shown here, was recently presented at the 18th Annual African American Family History Seminar in Sacramento. Click here to view Kathy’s extensive collection and to find ways to purchase, or borrow the book from your local library.
Antoinette Broussard, whose family has roots in Louisiana and Missouri, is the second generation of her family born and raised in Oakland, California. She is an avid researcher and writer committed to the pursuit and documentation of her ancestral roots. Ms. Broussard-Farmer is the author of “African-American Celebrations and Holiday Traditions: Celebrating with Passion, Style, and Grace” in 2000, which made its paperback debut as “African-American Holiday Traditions: Celebrating With Passion, Style, and Grace“, in 2004. She has also been a valued contributor to many other books and articles by others. Antoinette currently serves on the Board of Directors of AAGSNC. Click here to find ways to purchase, or borrow books by or featuring Toni from your local library.
Clay Morgan Wilson IV is a dentist, writer, and photographer, but not necessarily in that order. He’s also a former Board Member of AAGSNC. His seventh grade English teacher once told him that we would become a successful writer. His novel, “Mush“, tells the story of seventy year old Clay Morgan and two of his sons taking a three thousand mile, cross country road trip mostly down Route 66, to his third son’s wedding. Making a deal with their father, Dad will tell stories if they seek his favorite snack…microwave pigskins. Click here to find ways to purchase, or borrow the book from your local library.
“Black Family Reunions: Finding the Rest of Me” has been recommended by AAGSNC Member Carole Neal. Written by Dr. Ione D. Vargas, who has long been convinced of the value of family reunions, especially among black families. For quite a few years, she traveled around the country to visit various black family reunions to observe what families did. She interviewed various members of those families as well. The result is this book, which delves into the social and psychological benefits of having reunions, as well as some advice and guidance on the nuts and bolts of planning and holding a reunion. Click here to find ways to purchase, or borrow the book from your local library.
During our December 2023 Annual Holiday Gathering, we discussed the latest season of the Netflix series, “High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America“, and the book upon which it is based, “High on the Hog: A Culinary Journey From Africa to America“.
Acclaimed cookbook author Jessica B. Harris has spent much of her life researching the food and foodways of the African Diaspora. High on the Hog is the culmination of years of her work, and the result is a most engaging history of African American cuisine. She was recently inducted into the James Beard Foundation’s Who’s Who of Food and Beverage in America.
From chitlins and ham hocks to fried chicken and vegan soul, Harris celebrates the delicious and restorative foods of the African American experience and details how each came to form such an important part of African American culture, history, and identity. Harris takes the reader on a harrowing journey from Africa across the Atlantic to America, tracking the trials that the people and the food have undergone along the way. Click here to find ways to purchase, or borrow the book from your local library.
Our October 2023 Guest Speaker, Donise Smith Lei, is the author of “Delving into My Bitterroots: How I Resurrected My Enslaved Ancestor, Granvill, and So, Can you.” Resisting the norm that only the well-documented, rich and famous can know about their family, set out to find a way to discover the story of her enslaved ancestor, tackling obstacles of a meager amount of documentation, and the unsavory topic of slavery in a unique way. Then, using techniques she honed as a teacher, she created new ways to resurrect her ancestor’s life using data from her family tree and DNA matches. She also explains how she used DNA evidence to verify her relationship to her enslaved ancestor to compensate for the lack of records. The book was published in March 2020. Click here to find ways to purchase, or borrow the book from your local library.
In “The Other Madisons: The Lost History of a President’s Black Family“, Bettye Kearse—a descendant of an enslaved cook and, according to oral tradition, President James Madison—shares her family story and explores the issues of legacy, race, and the powerful consequences of telling the whole truth. Bettye is the sibling of former AAGSNC Board member, Clay Wilson. Click here to find ways to purchase, or borrow the book from your local library.
The history of African Americans in the International Longshore & Warehouse Union (ILWU) in San Francisco is indeed worthy of documentation. Such an individual is Cleophas Williams, whose distinguished career as a member of the Local 10 spanned 38 years. His election as president of ILWU Local 10 in 1967, made him the highest elected African American to serve as an officer in the entire ILWU. In “My Life Story in ILWU Local 10“, Cleophas Williams tells the reader of his significant and historic journey in his own words. His story includes his early years in rural Camden, Arkansas, his arrival in the San Francisco Bay Area, and his rise in the International Longshore & Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 10, within the greater context of the Black liberation movement. The book is a compilation of Williams’ writings selected by Clarence Thomas and edited by Delores Lemon-Thomas. Every effort was made to stay true to his original manuscripts. Mr. Williams is the father of AAGSNC’s Historian, Jackie Chauhan. Click here to purchase the book directly from the publisher, or here to find other ways to purchase, or borrow the book from your local library.
In 1838, a group of America’s most prominent Catholic priests sold 272 enslaved people to save their largest mission project, what is now Georgetown University. Building upon work begun by AAGSNC Lifetime Member, Patricia Bayonne-Johnson, journalist, author, and professor Rachel L. Swarns follows one family through nearly two centuries of indentured servitude and enslavement to uncover the harrowing origin story of the Catholic Church in the United States. In this groundbreaking account, “The 272: The Families Who Were Enslaved and Sold to Build the American Catholic Church“, through the saga of the Mahoney family, Swarns illustrates how the Church relied on slave labor and slave sales to sustain its operations and to help finance its expansion. Click here to find ways to purchase, or borrow the book from your local library. For more about Ms. Bayonne-Johnson’s family history research, click here.
In 1850s South Carolina, an enslaved woman named Rose faced a crisis: the imminent sale of her daughter Ashley. Thinking quickly, she packed a cotton bag for her with a few items, and, soon after, the nine-year-old girl was separated from her mother and sold. Decades later, Ashley’s granddaughter Ruth embroidered this family history on the sack in spare, haunting language.
In “All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, a Black Family Keepsake“, Historian Tiya Miles carefully traces these women’s faint presence in archival records, and, where archives fall short, she turns to objects, art, and the environment to write a singular history of the experience of slavery, and the uncertain freedom afterward, in the United States. Winner of the Winner of the National Book Award and numerous other awards. Click here to find ways to purchase, or borrow the book from your local library.
NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD WINNER • NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration” is a historical study of the Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson and winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award. The book was widely acclaimed by critics. In this beautifully written masterwork, the Pulitzer Prize–winner and bestselling author chronicles one of the great untold stories of American history: the decades-long migration of black citizens who fled the South for northern and western cities, in search of a better life. Click here to find ways to purchase, or borrow the book from your local library.
African American research is challenging at best. But to research the homestead stories in so many different states and in the voices of so many descendants is a talent that few authors/editors possess. Bernice Bennett’s “Black Homesteaders of the South” is a work of art …a classic for the ages. The skill, the compassion, the thoroughness, the documentation and the imagery makes this a must read and deserves a place on everyone’s bookshelf! Outstanding! Bennett is a volunteer with the Homestead National Historical Park Service and has devoted her grass-roots skills to identifying and encouraging descendants of Black homesteaders to share their stories. This book is available from Amazon, here.
Our bookshelf was curated with the assistance of Author/Editor/Researcher Dera R. Williams, who also happens to be AAGSNC’s Secretary. Dera is the author of a forthcoming book of her own, “In My Backyard: Stories of Growing Up In Oakland“. You can follow Dera at Dera’s Website.
Our current AAGSNC Board of Directors Chair, Michael A. Willis, is also the author of a forthcoming book. “Finding Binky” is the beginning of a book series entitled “When Your Ancestors Choose You”. You can follow Michael at Michael’s Website.
Tell us what you think about the bookshelf, or any of the books here that you may have read. Give us your brief impression of the book that you read. Also, if you have recommendations for any genealogy or history related books that you’d like to add to our bookshelf, feel free to let us know.
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