Genealogical Research for Marginalized Groups: a LAVA Humanities Panel Discussion

Genealogical research is often complicated by the limits of historical documentation, and this is made all the more complicated in terms of Indigenous and African American genealogical research, due to the legacies of slavery, Jim Crow, colonialism, and genocide.
David Brule, President of the Nolumbeka Project, and Orice Jenkins, Executive Director of Música Franklin, will discuss their experiences conducting this kind of complicated research. The panel will be moderated by Matthew Barlow, Humanities Coordinator at The LAVA Center and is presented in conjunction with LAVA’s Black Families of Greenfield exhibit, which is on display through October.
Light refreshments will be served. This is a free event. Donations are welcome.
David Brule, the President of the Nolumbeka Project, is a member of the Nehantic Tribal Council. He is the coordinator of the National Park Service Battlefield Protection Program, the goal of which is to identify the likely locations of King Philip’s War (1675-76) Peskeompskut (Turners Falls) Battlefield and associated sites, including the Indigenous community Pestkeompskut-Wissatinnewag. On this, David works in partnership with an archeologist, town historic commissions, and members of several New England tribes.
Orice Jenkins is a member of the Sons and Daughters of the U.S. Middle Passage and the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society. He has been featured on podcasts and radio shows such as “Research at the National Archives & Beyond” and “Grating the Nutmeg” and presented his findings to Racial Justice Rising and at the Indiana African American Genealogy Group annual conference. Orice has worked as a consultant for Dr. Matt Baker, the creator of UsefulCharts.com, collaborating on genealogy videos that have garnered millions of views on YouTube.
In 2022, he contributed to Bernice Bennett’s latest book: Black Homesteaders of the South (Arcadia Publishing/The History Press) and appeared with other Homesteader descendants at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture during Black History Month in 2023. Orice also publishes a blog called Chesta’s Children, and serves as the Executive Director of a youth music program in Greenfield, Massachusetts.