Black Ancestries

01/19/2026

At the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial this morning, remembering that the dream was born from ancestry. Dr. King carried generations with him. So do we. Our histories aren’t behind us. They live in us.

Andre Kearns

01/08/2026

As we enter 2026, this family story uncovered by Black Ancestries is a powerful way to begin our commemoration. Tracing my Morehouse College classmate Imani Moody's remarkable lineage from a Black Revolutionary War Patriot to a Civil Rights Freedom Rider shows that freedom is not free!
Read the full story: https://medium.com/.../america250-freedom-in-the-blood...

01/01/2026

Happy New Year from Black Ancestries!

We recently visited the American Ancestors Family Heritage Experience in Boston, the foyer where Henry Louis Gates Jr. films Finding Your Roots. Standing there reminded us of what inspires our work: turning history into powerful family reveals.

Here’s to Black Ancestries uncovering, celebrating, and preserving your story, and hopefully delivering your family history reveal in 2026!

12/29/2025

Over thirty years ago, I was a student at the Atlanta University Center (Morehouse College) walking the same grounds where W. E. B. Du Bois once taught, wrote, and shaped generations of Black intellectual life.

Twenty-six years ago, as a Harvard Business School student, I traveled to Ghana and stood at Du Bois’s final resting place—reflecting on a life committed to truth, dignity, and Pan-African possibility.

This week, after spending the holidays in the Berkshires with family, I found myself in Great Barrington, his birthplace. As I brushed snow from the historical markers so I could read them, I felt a deep sense of gratitude and inspiration, grounded in the extraordinary life and enduring legacy of a man who insisted that history matters, and that knowing who we are shapes who we can become.

At Black Ancestries, this is the work we do every day: uncovering, celebrating, and preserving the stories that anchor us, so legacy is not lost to time, silence, or snowfall.

12/25/2025

Hang all the mistletoe, I’m gonna get to know you better...this Christmas. May this season invite you to uncover your family stories, celebrate your people, and preserve the memories that bind generations. Merry Christmas from Black Ancestries!

12/22/2025

As we close our first year, Black Ancestries is sharing stories that restored names, reclaimed hidden histories, and broke through research brick walls. Watch Roots Revealed, our Year-End Showcase, and experience real client discoveries that transform family questions into lasting legacy.

Watch now on YouTube
https://youtu.be/JU7xGpdXx40?si=liJE9g_le9G-56xz

A powerful year-end showcase sharing Black Ancestries client breakthroughs, research methods, and inspiring reveal stories, helping people of African descent...

12/11/2025

It was the honor of a lifetime to have Lillian Lincoln Lambert, MBA - trailblazer, entrepreneur, and the first Black woman to earn an MBA from Harvard Business School School - invite Black Ancestries to uncover her family history. I'd be grateful if you read our latest feature, “Rivers Carry Us,” and shared it with others who appreciate the impact of family history. Thank you!

Read here: https://medium.com//rivers-carry-us-tracing-the-hobson-strange-legacy-to-lillian-lincoln-lambert-ae4bd804045d

11/30/2025

Honored to be featured in this year’s HABA Holiday Gift Guide alongside fellow alumni creators and founders. Explore the guide to discover unique gifts and support our alumni community!
Click here to browse:
https://www.harvardblackadvancement.org/habaholidaygiftguide2025

11/26/2025

This Thanksgiving, Black Ancestries is grateful for the power of family stories. Our CEO Andre Kearns was honored to help his friend and Morehouse College brother, Marlon Sanchez, CEO of Skyway Pacific, uncover his roots and trace his lineage back to his remarkable ancestor, Boston Frazier, born enslaved in 1835 and later a Black homesteader who claimed land in 1867. Boston’s journey from enslavement to ownership is a testament to resilience, determination, and the legacy that endures across generations.

Read the full story:
https://andrekearns.medium.com/from-enslavement-to-ownership-tracing-the-sanchez-legacy-to-boston-frazier-7934976af626

11/06/2025

Speak Their Names: The Cedar Grove 143

Twenty years of genealogical research led Black Ancestries CEO Andre Kearns to Hearts Collaborative-run Cedar Grove Plantation in Huntersville, NC, where my ancestor Charlotte Kearns was enslaved.

This year, that research culminated in something profound: The Cedar Grove 143, a newly published Plantation Estate Record in the 10 Million Names Project by American Ancestors, honoring 143 men, women, and children whose names and lives once went unrecorded.

Standing on that ground, speaking Charlotte’s name, and seeing her community recognized is more than history, it’s ancestral justice.

At Black Ancestries, we’re committed to uncovering, celebrating, and preserving the stories of those who came before us—so their descendants can stand in truth and pride.

Learn more or begin your own journey: blackancestries.com

Historic plantation house in Huntersville, NC, built in 1831; 2022, Crazyale, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons We are excited to announce a new database for 10 Millions Names, North America: Records of E…

11/05/2025

Which Side Would You Be On?

At Black Ancestries, we love exploring questions that connect our personal family stories to pivotal moments in history.

I recently listened to Fresh Air with Terry Gross interview Ken Burns about his new documentary, The American Revolution. One question she asked him stayed with me:

“If you were transported back in time, which side would you be on?”

For me, it depends on which ancestor I’d inhabit.

Though I’ve been researching for 20 years, I haven’t yet traced to a named enslaved ancestor born in the 1750s who’d be an adult during the Revolution—though that surely includes most of my lineage. If I could, I might have been a Loyalist, since the British promised freedom to enslaved men who fought for them.

My DNA shows 1–2% Native American ancestry, and many tribes sided with the British to protect their lands from American expansion—another Loyalist tie.

Yet my Cumbo ancestors fought for independence, so there’s the Patriot side. And my German immigrant fifth great-grandfathers, Johannes Schmierer and William Bost, also fought for independence, making me eligible for membership in the Sons of the American Revolution.

If I chose to inhabit one of my female ancestors, I might have sided with peace—by default, the British—fearing for the safety of my husband, brothers, or sons.

So, long way of answering Terry’s question: it depends.

What’s certain is we’ll be watching this new documentary when it premieres Sunday, November 16.

At Black Ancestries, we believe the deeper you know your family’s story, the richer your connection to history becomes.

10/27/2025

Black Ancestries was at Howard University Homecoming this weekend! When my son started at Howard this fall, he became the sixth generation in our family to attend an HBCU. Let’s just say I was busy doing some serious business development this weekend, the kind that comes with tailgates and parties. Happy Homecoming, HU!