Paths to the Past delves into the practice and importance of Black genealogy research, illuminating how family histories can be traced despite gaps, silences, and systemic barriers in the historical record. Presenter Yulanda Burgess shares how her genealogy and historical research uncovered her family's connection with a horrific incident during the American Civil War: the Fort Pillow Massacre. She will discuss strategies, resources, and real-world insights she used to uncover her ancestral stories and how she seeks to preserve that connection to our historical past. This talk invites participants to see genealogy not just as research, but as an act of remembrance, resilience, and legacy-building.
Yulanda Burgess is a life-long Detroiter with deep southern roots. She volunteered at the Grant House, Detroit Historical Museum, and Historic Fort Wayne. This early experience laid the foundation for forty years as a guest speaker, consultant, interpreter, and writer on the African American experience in the late eighteenth to early twentieth centuries. She is the currently president of Detroit's chapter of the Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War, 1861-1865 (Sarah M.W. Sterling Tent 3 that was chartered in 1914), National Society Daughters of the Union 1861-1865, and co-chair of the Detroit Historic Civil War Society.
Included with museum admission.
BLACK HISTORY MONTH PROGRAM