Family reunion of a group of women, men and children

Robert Frederick Smith Explore Your Family History Center

Communicator Award of Excellence logo Silver Vega Award logo Davey Award 2023 Davey Award 2023

The Robert Frederick Smith Explore Your Family History Center helps people begin their family history journey and learn the basics of researching African American genealogy. Visitors may register for a genealogy session, view our latest exhibit and explore Transitions in Freedom: The Syphax Family, a digital interactive exploring the family's genealogy through documents, photographs and maps.

Two women in NMAAHC's Family History Center

Genealogy Research Sessions

Are you interested in conducting genealogy research on your family? Join our staff and volunteers for Genealogy Tuesdays held in the Robert F. Smith Explore Your Family History Center on Level 2 of NMAAHC. Visitors can register in the Center for free sessions that begin at 11am (EST). If you're not able to join us at the museum, you can request an appointment for a free virtual session over Zoom by emailing us at familyhistorycenter@si.edu.

During both onsite and virtual sessions visitors learn the basics of using genealogy databases including Ancestry Library Edition and FamilySearch.org. Through researching public documents, visitors will learn how to navigate the U.S. Federal Census, vital records, military records, and capture images of their documents to share with others. Intermediate research strategies using slave schedules, wills and Freedmen's Bureau records may also be shared for those who have traced their ancestors to the 19th century. The Center also collects finding aids for countries outside the U.S. and assists with basic queries from international visitors.

Two women at a computer in the Family History Center

Public Programs

The Family History Center offers periodic public programs covering a variety of topics in genealogy and history related to the African American experience. These programs allow our visitors to expand their knowledge and connect with an ever-growing genealogy community around the country. Visitors interested in our public programs should email us at familyhistorycenter@si.edu and look for upcoming events on NMAAHC's homepage. Our past public programs can be viewed here.

Black Homesteaders of the South

Genealogist Bernice A. Bennett uncovers the stories of African American families who became landowners through the Homestead Act of 1862 from her latest book 'Black Homesteaders of the South.' What does this legacy mean for their descendants today?

Join genealogist Bernice A. Bennett who will uncover the stories of African American families who became landowners through the Homestead Act of 1862 from her latest book Black Homesteaders of the South. Bennett’s work is a modern story of black genealogists who networked through a Facebook page to trace the footsteps of their ancestors in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana & Mississippi. Find out how these families navigated the application process through the federal government, and what this legacy means for their descendants today. Bernice Alexander Bennett is an award-winning author, genealogist and host of Research at the National Archives & Beyond BlogTalkRadio program. Her genealogical interests focus on Southeast Louisiana and Edgefield and Greenwood Counties, South Carolina. Bennett is an author and contributor to 2 award winning genealogy books including Our Ancestors, Our Stories and Tracing Their Steps: A Memoir. A New Orleans native, Bennett is a volunteer with the Homestead National Historical Park Service identifying descendants of Black homesteaders to share their stories.

Family portrait
Gift of Charles Schwartz and Shawn Wilson © Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture
Black and white image of Pauli Murray

Pauli Murray - Proud Shoes

Pauli Murray’s Proud Shoes: A Classic in African American Genealogy explores the family history of Pauli Murray, a pioneering lawyer, priest, and writer who published a major African American genealogy. Her book, Proud Shoes: An African American Family, showcases the racial and social dynamics between the union of a free black family from the north and a mixed-race family of the south.

View the Exhibition

Robert F. Smith Explore Your Family History Center

The Explore Your Family History Center operates as part of the Robert Frederick Smith Center for the Digitization and Curation of African American History. The Smith Center provides digital resources supporting the preservation, digitization and sharing of African American family history. The other initiatives of the Center include the Great Migration Home Movie Project, the Community Curation Program and the Internship and Fellowship program.

Explore the Collection

Search the Museum's Collection for objects related to African American family and community traditions.

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Two Women with a Man and a Child on the Hood of a Car, 1950s
Two Women with a Man and a Child on the Hood of a Car, 1950s
Peter L. Robinson, Sr., ca. 1917, Gift of Peter L. Robinson, Jr. and Marie Robinson Johnson
Peter L. Robinson, Sr., ca. 1917, Gift of Peter L. Robinson, Jr. and Marie Robinson Johnson
Three men and two women sitting in front of Jack's Memory Chapel, ca. 1948, Gift of Princetta R. Newman
Three men and two women sitting in front of Jack's Memory Chapel, ca. 1948, Gift of Princetta R. Newman

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