Black Reparations Project Presents:
Genealogy Workshop Series with Nicka Smith
Join the Black Reparations Project for a series of virtual genealogy workshops led by renowned genealogist Nicka Smith. These workshops will explore key aspects of African American genealogy, including family history research, the lives of the formerly enslaved, and ancestral land connections. The series provides an opportunity for all community members to explore genealogy research, deepen their understanding of reparations, and support access to reparations benefits. Open to all and free to attend, the workshops promote genealogy awareness and a culture of healing, wellness, and inclusivity.
October 22nd, 2024 | 5:30 PM – 7:00 PM PST | Beginning Genealogy and Family History
The interest in family history has grown exponentially over the last decade and has become a national phenomenon. In this session, learn the basics of genealogy research, ways that descendants of both free people and the formerly enslaved can trace their ancestors, and how the use of DNA is leading the way to repair families torn apart by the system of slavery.
November 12th, 2024 | 5:30 PM – 7:00 PM PST | Researching the Formerly Enslaved
Genealogists and family historians alike have spent decades looking for a tried and true method for unearthing slaveholders of those enslaved prior to 1865. Learn how three crucial record sets (Civil War Records/Pensions, the Freedmen’s Bureau, and Probates/Successions) can become just the wrecking ball needed to obliterate brick walls related to slavery.
February 11th, 2025 | 5:30 PM – 7:00 PM PST | Researching Ancestral Land
Black Americans who emerged from enslavement were eager to take advantage of all the rights and privileges of their newfound citizenship. One of the rights they often pursued was owning their own land. In this session, learn how to identify if an ancestor owned land, how to trace the chain of ownership of land that’s been in a family, and how to break down details mentioned within land records to glean more information on those mentioned.
Event Sponsors: the Black Reparations Project, Mills College at Northeastern University Antiracism, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging Grant and UC Berkeley Goldman School of Public Policy, Northeastern Law Center for Law, Equity and Race, the Nicodemus Historical Society, and Descendants of Enslaved Communities at UVA.
Technical support provided by Emend The Mass Media Group.
Register Here: https://www.eventbrite.com/o/academic-events-amp-cultural-programming-mcnu-76506451403
View Genealogy Workshop Series Recordings Here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJdLpRJPsa77mpqtlXD82Gp5DOXpN0YGd
For questions please contact: blackreparationsproject@northeastern.edu
About Nicka Smith
Nicka Smith is a host, consultant, and documentarian with more than 20 years of experience as a genealogist. She has extensive experience in researching the enslaved and their communities and is an expert in genealogy research in the Mississippi Delta.
Nicka has diverse and varied experience in media with a background in audio, video, and written communications. She’s appeared on TODAY, Good Morning America, CNN, MSNBC, an Emmy winning episode of the series Who Do You Think You Are, was featured in the groundbreaking short film, A Dream Delivered: The Lost Letters of Hawkins Wilson, and has been interviewed by National Geographic, TIME, USA Today, and New York Times. She is the host of BlackProGen LIVE, an innovative web show with more than 130 episodes focused on people of color genealogy and family history.
She is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, a member of two lineage societies (Sons and Daughters of the Middle Passage (SDUSMP), National Society of Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR)), and a past board member of the California Genealogical Society (CGS) and the African American Genealogical Society of Northern California (AAGSNC). Nicka is also active in the descendant community movement as a member of the board of the Descendants of Enslaved Communities at University of Virginia (DEC-UVA), as a genealogy advisor to the Descendants of St. Louis University Enslaved (DSLUE), and as a genealogy researcher for Justice for Greenwood’s We Are GreenwoodTM Genealogy Project, which seeks to identify living descendants of those directly affected by the Tulsa Race Massacre.
Nicka is the family historian and lead researcher for the Atlas family of Lake Providence, East Carroll and the founder and lead researcher of Trask 250, a descendant community of more than 8,000 whose ancestral slaveholders have direct ties to Amherst College and University of Mississippi (Ole Miss).
Additionally, Nicka has a current role as a senior story producer at AncestryTM, the global leader in family history and consumer genomics, and guides and coaches an active group of family historians at the Who is Nicka Smith Patreon community.