The Genetic Genealogist

Two companies recently teamed up to offer their services to families with roots in the African Diaspora. Slave Descendants Freedom Society and Diversity Restoration Solutions are bringing a seminar series to 50 cities in the United States, Canada, and Europe titled “Restoring African American Families Using Genealogy and History.” The seminar will focus on topics such as slavery in America, the importance of African American family genealogy as it relates to slavery, and 13 steps to restoring a family with genealogy and history. According to a recent press release:

“This interactive seminar series is a stepping stone in that it seeks to help African Americans find their self identity, understand the benefits of restoring the core family base, and move forward in leveraging resources as a people,” said Sheppard, author of “Ancestor’s Call,” a genealogy and historical accounting of the Grandy family and Moses Grandy, an ancestor whose story was originally told in a rare 1843 slave narrative. “It’s important that we lay the foundation for generations coming after us; our children and grandchildren need to know who they are in order to receive their inheritance. This seminar honors the contributions of our ancestors but with an emphasis that this recognition should not occur just during Black History Month, but as a way of life, everyday. Participants will come away with a greater understanding of themselves, an action plan for tracing their family tree and hopefully a stronger appreciation for family and desire to pay it forward in their community.” A pdf brochure is available.

On Thursday, the two companies announced that they have partnered with Family Tree DNA to offer attendees of the Family Restoration Roundtable Educational Seminar series the opportunity to take a genetic genealogy test to learn more about their Y-chromosomal and mtDNA ancestral lines.

“We look forward to working with Family Tree DNA,” said Eric Sheppard president and founder of Diversity Restoration Solutions, Inc. (DRS), a cultural diversity empowerment training company, and co-founder and chairman of Slave Descendants Freedom Society (SDFS), a nonprofit slave history and genealogy organization. “Genetic research has been instrumental as an additional resource for tracing family history. Today, researching lineage is not just about reviewing census data, court records and other historical documents. DNA testing is a significant addition to a genealogy search because a person can learn whether they are related to someone in a matter of a few weeks.”