Last Seen: The Enduring Search by Formerly Enslaved People to Find Their Lost Families

Featuring Judith Giesberg, Ph.D.

6:30pm EST 

As soon as slavery ended in 1865, family members began to search for one another, in some cases persisting until as late as the 1920s, as many placed “information wanted” advertisements in newspapers and sent letters to the editor. Judith Giesberg, author of Last Seen, draws on the digital archive that she founded—containing almost five thousand letters and advertisements placed by members of the Freedom Generation—to compile these stories in a narrative form for the first time. With this critical context, she recounts the moving stories of the people who placed the advertisements, the loved ones they tried to find, and the outcome of their quests to reunite.

*Please note that this program is accessible via Zoom only.