Ancestor's Footprints with Bernice Alexander Bennett

In today’s episode, we will introduce the extraordinary King family, an American family whose story is one of migration, courage, determination, family, and land. This episode will delve into the history of the King family, who arrived in Washington State in 1903 as part of an eight-family migration of friends from the Durham area of North Carolina. In 1909, Calvin King, fulfilling a lifelong dream of owning land, applied for a homestead, becoming the first non-native Americans to settle the area and the only known Black farming family in Idaho history. Over the decades, the farm became a central gathering place for four generations of the eight families and their descendants, and with time, all of the families became interrelated. 

Sharing this remarkable story is Gwen Olson (formerly a Registered Nurse), spent 25 years as a family historian, researching the various branches of her family. She is a passionate collector of family photos, which she shares with family members all over the country. She also shares the family history with her granddaughters. Recently, she went up  to Spokane to visit the farm once owned by her cousins. The current owners remember the Kings and have placed markers honoring their history in the valley, which is colloquially known as 'Valley of the Kings’.

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Today's episode from Roots and Beyond will explore that the deeper we dig, the more we begin to uncover stories of migration, identity, resilience, struggle, triumph, and sometimes truths that challenge the way we have understood our families and our history.

Chris Haley is a multifaceted storyteller dedicated to preserving and projecting African American history. As the Director of Research and the Study of the Legacy of Slavery at the Maryland State Archives, Chris bridges the gap between ancestral records and modern narrative. He is the co-director of the Emmy-nominated documentary Unmarked and the host of the Ambie nominated podcast The People’s Recorder, both of which center on uncovering buried histories. An accomplished author of seven books, including Fists and Rainbows, When Did I Know I Was Black? and Obsessions, Chris explores identity and heritage through a deeply personal lens. His commitment to reconciliation was recently reflected in his role as a commissioner on the Maryland Lynching Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Whether through the written word, the director’s chair, or his work in genealogy, Chris ensures that the voices of the past resonate with clarity and purpose in the present.

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You can find Ancestor’s Footprints on Spreaker.com, Apple Podcasts, iHeart, Amazon Music, and many other platforms. Be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode.

"When the Archive Goes Silent"


What happens when the paper trail goes silent—but you know the story isn’t over? And what if the missing piece of your family history isn’t buried in another archive at all? What if it is being carried by someone who is still living—waiting for you to ask the right question? Sometimes, the living are the archive.

Regina “Califa” Calloway, Cultural Curator, Professional Genealogist, Family Historian, and founder of nzoCALIFAncestry™ Genealogy Kinship Services. She introduces Kinship Calibration, a research practice that works alongside the archive, listening for the granular information carried by Elders, kin, neighbors, churches, photographs, foodways, place, memory, and lived experience. For Calloway, this is not simply oral history. It is a practice of communal kinship and ancestral stewardship: learning how to decode what the records reveal, recognize what they leave unresolved, and engage the people who may still carry the missing pieces.

Her guiding principle is: “Steward Your History.”  Her ancestral research moves across Louisiana, Arkansas, Georgia, Alabama, and beyond—through names, migration, cemeteries, family reunions, Elder testimony, photographs, churches, communities, and those unexpected moments when a name on a page becomes a living connection. 

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You can find Ancestor’s Footprints on Spreaker.com, Apple Podcasts, iHeart, Amazon Music, and many other platforms. Be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode.

Today's episode will explore what happened when genealogist and family historian Mary K. Clark, Ph.D. set out to answer a simple question, "Who are Fannie's people?", she uncovered a remarkable story of family, land ownership, and community connections in the Wiregrass region of Alabama. Drawing upon oral history shared by elders, vital records, land patents, National Archives records, courthouse documents, and modern mapping tools, Mary reconstructed a network of Black homesteading families whose lives were intertwined through kinship, faith, and landownership. In this conversation, she shares how family stories led to unexpected discoveries, including ancestral homesteads, community connections spanning generations, and a deeper understanding of the legacy left by her ancestors. 

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You can find Ancestor’s Footprints on Spreaker.com, Apple Podcasts, iHeart, Amazon Music, and many other platforms. Be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode.

Today, we are honored to welcome André Kearns, founder and CEO of Black Ancestries, a genealogy firm dedicated to uncovering, celebrating, and preserving the family histories of the African diaspora. André is also Vice President of the National Genealogical Society and Co-Chair of the HEARTS Collaborative Reunion Project.

His book, Finding Cornerstone Stories: Uncovering Inspiration in Your Family’s History, brings together twelve powerful stories discovered over more than two decades of family-history research. Through stories of enslavement, emancipation, military service, entrepreneurship, education, civil rights, and leadership, André invites us to consider not only where we come from—but what the lives of our ancestors can teach us about who we are today.

https://www.amazon.com/Finding-Cornerstone-Stories-Uncovering-Inspiration/dp/0880824581

https://blackancestries.com

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You can find Ancestor’s Footprints on Spreaker.com, Apple Podcasts, iHeart, Amazon Music, and many other platforms. Be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode.

Today’s podcast is entitled “Carolina Roots & Legacies: Discovering the Stories That Connect Us.” We will explore how genealogy can help us uncover not only names and dates, but also the communities, relationships, struggles, triumphs, and enduring legacies that connect us across generations.

Desi L. Campbell is the executive director of the Harnett County African American Heritage Center and Museum in Lillington, North Carolina, and the recipient of the North Carolina Genealogical Society’s Outstanding Contribution to North Carolina Genealogy Award—the organization’s highest honor. A founding officer of the Sandhills Chapter of the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society, Campbell has authored 26 family-history books and Let’s Talk Genealogy for Kids. They have helped more than 200 families uncover their roots while organizing programs and celebrations that preserve African American history and heritage.

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You can find Ancestor’s Footprints on Spreaker.com, Apple Podcasts, iHeart, Amazon Music, and many other platforms. Be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode.

Today’s episode is entitled The Story of Louise: From $500 to Priceless, a work of narrative nonfiction that documents the eleven-year legal fight for the freedom of Louise, an enslaved woman purchased in 1833, and the generations who followed her.

Joining me is Leonard Smith III  - a Louisiana-based documentary filmmaker, genealogist, author and cinematic historian. He owns LS3 Studios. Smith is Louise's third great-grandson, and his book grew out of a research journey that began in 1978, when he discovered a single word in an 1880 census record while servicing microfilm equipment at the New Orleans Public Library. Smith is also the director of the award-winning feature documentary A Place Called Desire and The Gulfside Assembly Story. His work has earned eight Telly Awards, three AVA Digital Awards, and official selections at film festivals across the country. He serves on the Board of Directors of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and Foundation.

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You can find Ancestor’s Footprints on Spreaker.com, Apple Podcasts, iHeart, Amazon Music, and many other platforms. Be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode.

In this episode researchers will gain a better understanding of the importance of learning and understanding migration patterns as well as its affect on history and our families’ tapestry. U. S. History and Migrations play a pivotal role in family history and deciphering DNA connections.

Rev. Danté Eubanks is the pastor of New Covenant Christian Worship Center in Leonardtown, Maryland, and a United States Navy veteran. He is also a passionate historian and genealogist, and  is widely recognized for connecting traditional history with genealogy, particularly through the study of migration patterns and African American family history. Rev. Eubanks has presented nationally, statewide, and locally on Maryland and Southern history, migration, Jesuit enslavement, and genealogy. He is a recipient of the Sons and Daughters of the United States Middle Passage Certificate of Special Recognition and is actively involved in numerous historical and genealogical organizations.

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You can find Ancestor’s Footprints on Spreaker.com, Apple Podcasts, iHeart, Amazon Music, and many other platforms. Be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode.

This episode will draw on an extraordinary range of sources, including state and federal appellate court records, forgotten county courthouse documents, family interviews, church records, and personal papers to reveal how African Americans understood, discussed, and used the law long before the better-known Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. In a society that denied many constitutional protections, Black communities built lives, families, businesses, and institutions by relying on what Professor Penningroth calls the common-law "rights of everyday use." The result is a richer, more complex portrait of Black life and the long struggle for freedom.

Professor Penningroth is Professor of Law and Morrison Professor of History at the University of California, Berkeley, and an Affiliated Research Professor of the American Bar Foundation. A MacArthur Fellow, Before the Movement has received eleven major book awards and has been shortlisted for four more.

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You can find Ancestor’s Footprints on Spreaker.com, Apple Podcasts, iHeart, Amazon Music, and many other platforms. Be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode.

 The Power of Family History: Discovering Identity Through Ancestry

In this episode, we will delve into the profound impact of uncovering one’s family history. We will explore how this revelation not only reshapes our self-perception but also deepens our comprehension of America’s narrative. Furthermore, we will uncover the hidden stories within our family trees that possess the transformative power to inspire future generations and foster a more profound understanding of diverse cultures.

Denise Griggs is an award-winning genealogist, educator, publisher, and author with more than forty years of experience researching family history, specializing in African American genealogy. She is the owner of Glass Tree Books®, Blue Eclipse Publishing®, and co-founder of Griggs Educational Enterprises, LLC. Denise has dedicated her career to helping others uncover their family stories, overcome research challenges, and preserve their heritage for future generations. Her research has connected her family to African, Native American, European, and Irish ancestors, Revolutionary War patriots, United States Colored Troops, and Civil War soldiers. Through her teaching, writing, and community service, Denise reminds us that every family history contributes to the larger story of our nation.

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You can find Ancestor’s Footprints on Spreaker.com, Apple Podcasts, iHeart, Amazon Music, and many other platforms. Be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode.