RRAAM | Genealogy Workshop

Do you want to learn more about your family history?

The River Road African American Museum (RRAAM) is hosting a genealogy workshop to help you uncover your family’s past. This virtual event is perfect for millennials and older adults who want to learn more about their heritage. Experienced genealogists will lead each workshop, and you will have the opportunity to ask questions and share your own findings.

Learning about your family history can be a rewarding experience. Let the RRAAM help you get started on this journey.

What to Prepare for the Genealogy Workshop

Going to a genealogy workshop requires a bit of preparation on your part. Some information that would be good to have ready includes:

• The names of your ancestors: This is the first and most important step in genealogical research. You will need to know the names of your ancestors to find information about them.
• The town or city where they lived: Knowing the town or city where your ancestors lived can help you find information about them.
• The year they were born: Identifying your ancestors’ birth years can assist you in locating information about them.

The genealogy workshop will provide you with the tools and resources that you need to conduct genealogical research. You will need some basic information about your ancestors in order to make the most of the experience, but those who do not have this information can still benefit from the workshop by learning how to find it.

This is not required, but it can be helpful; the genealogy workshop is the perfect opportunity to get help deciphering those old records and photos.

The African American Genealogy workshop will educate participants about the enslaved people who were sold by the Jesuit priests of Georgetown University to former Governor Henry S. Johnson of Ascension Parish. Johnson was an attorney and legislator who owned Chatham Plantation in Modeste, Louisiana. Recent discoveries show that there were more that 272 individuals sold by Jesuits and more than 100 of those sold were brought to the Donaldsonville area.

The workshop will help participants determine if they are descendants of the enslaved people who are a part of this amazing history. This program is in conjunction with a GU272 exhibit opening for Juneteenth 2022.

The virtual workshop will be facilitated by Genealogist Karran Royal. Karran is one of the founders and former Executive Director of the GU272 Descendants Association. She is the co-host of the Livestream genealogy show, “Nurturing Our Roots” and the founder of the online community, Descendants of Jesuit Enslavement. She hosts a weekly Zoom call with descendants around the country. FREE to the public.

This program is co-sponsored by a Social Science Research Council grant through the American Slavery’s Legacy across Space and Time project, a component of the Council’s Inequity Initiative.

Dr. Harrell will present federal-level research methods using the Department of Justice, FBI, and Attorney General files, Ancestry, FamilySearch, and DNA research.