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    Brigitte Bardot's black wigBreanna Edwards
    7/18/17 11:59am

    This looks really interesting, and I’m so struck by the fact that it’s going to be in Charleston. When I was a kid, my family and I went to Charleston on vacation and went to the Old Slave Mart Museum - the only extant known slave auction building in South Carolina. It was amazing in part because it was one of the first places I’d ever seen personal stories of individual slaves and what had happened to them (as far as was known) along with sketches and photographs.

    One that stuck in my head for some reason was a husband and wife who escaped - she was passing, and he was dark, so they made their way up the Eastern seaboard pretending that she was a woman traveling and he was her servant. At age nine (and even now), I couldn’t fathom what it took to be able to do that (and even as difficult as that was, they had an “advantage” because she could pass).

    The displays in the museum also described vividly the tearing apart of families and general, well, inhumanity of treating other humans as property.

    It’s been a very long time and I don’t remember the place well (there could certainly be some very problematic aspects), but it made a hell of an impression on me at an age when I hadn’t been exposed to any of this history.

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    PaulMooneysTongueBreanna Edwards
    7/18/17 10:58am

    I’ll do it if helps me get my 40 acres and a mule.....

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      Cardi B's Other ShoePaulMooneysTongue
      7/18/17 11:40am

      You have a better chance of winning Powerball. Trust that there will be no 40 acres and a mule giveaway until the face of black is white or close to it.

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    HumboldtGenesisBreanna Edwards
    7/18/17 10:53am

    I, along with several members of my family, was really excited about the prospect of DNA testing to uncover our African roots and build upon what we knew about our genealogy. And then I started reading articles that broke down the fine print of some of the companies that do DNA testing and lost all interest. Many of these companies can and will use your DNA beyond the means of mapping your genealogy.

    While this museum and its DNA testing services sound like a great opportunity, I implore people in the black community to please read the fine print before handing over your DNA, which is perhaps the most precious asset you have. Follow the money, think about who benefits the greatest from accumulating DNA data from a bunch of black people.

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      WangChung81HumboldtGenesis
      7/18/17 12:49pm

      Henrietta Lacks. Nuff said.

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      HumboldtGenesisWangChung81
      7/18/17 3:02pm

      Excellent point.

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    reasonable-n-rationalBreanna Edwards
    7/18/17 10:54am

    As someone who has spent years trying to do my genealogy, and failing to get past 1890, this would be absolutely amazing and welcome!

    My partner got to talk to a genealogist when we visited Ellis Island a few years ago, which was awesome and exciting for him. To finally have a chance to do something similar would be just awesome.

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    K__Breanna Edwards
    7/18/17 11:16pm

    This is wonderful “The center will be staffed by a team of experienced genealogists and historians to digitize records, present online research tutorials and produce scholarly articles” I will definitely visit when open.. i dont know how much the services will cost but if cheaper than regular genealogist im willing to give it a go. I have been researching my family for 8 years now and havent even hit the slave wall. For some reason I can find no documentation of people in my family. My grandfather who died last year but thankfully id been asking questions and recording him for years, says that he had 9 aunts and uncles. I know he isnt lying but i literally have been able to find 0 of these people ..nothing its very strange. The closest i got to confirming/proving he wasnt out of his mind lol (again i know my grandpa didnt just make up 9 blood aunts and uncles but its frustrated me for so long) was when I requested a death certificate for my great great grandfather and the informant was one of these said aunts who i could never find. My grandma’s side is even worse cant find anything. I went into research hoping to uncover anything but I have been doing this for so long that my GOAL at this point is just to hit the slave wall. It would be better than Ive gotten in almost 10 years. Anyway im way off topic, sorry, but i hope a place like this whose specific focus in on african americans would be able to help someone like me

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