Wednesday, February 8, 2012
PRINCESS ANNE, Md. – (Feb. 7, 2012) – The Virginia Historical Society received a $100,000 grant to examine over 8 million unpublished manuscripts. A historical society in Virginia, has discovered the identities of more than 3,000 slaves from unpublished private documents. The Unknown No Longer website is the first online resource listing slaves’ names across all of Virginia.
Dr. Kathryn Barrett-Gaines, the Director of African/African American Studies at the University Of Maryland Eastern Shore, says, “These were human beings, and when human beings have names the word slave is second and the name is first.”
Students from University Of Maryland Eastern Shore, have stated, “You have to have that knowledge of self in order to move on”, “To know now that there’s a database where we can find information on our ancestry to me is pretty profound”, “I always wanted to know where I came from, who my ancestors were, where they came from so this is very exciting”, and “Its a part of me, a part of my ancestry, it’s a part of where my last name came from, its a part of my life.”
And according to Dr. Barrett-Gaines, this remarkable discovery is not only a part of African American history, but is also a great discovery for American History.
She states that, “These are people lives and peoples lives are a lot more interesting than what the word slave entails.”
{To view the full interview produced by WMDT News reporter Marquis Lupton, http://www.wmdt.com/story/16698246/over-3000-names-of-slaves-uncovered?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=6717525.}
This report was originally published online as well as broadcast by WMDT News, Channel 47, in Salisbury.
