MAP IT
Where does your name come from, and what does it mean?
Profs and Pints DC presents: “Unearthing Family Roots,” a guide to discovering and documenting your lineage, with Fatou Sow, genealogist, adjunct lecturer at Howard University, and project director for the soon-to-be-launched Black Family Museum and Archive.
Answering such questions, and otherwise researching our roots, can unlock a deeper sense of who we are and what we want to become. Learn valuable tips for studying, preserving, and presenting your family’s lineage with Fatou Sow, an educator, social scientist, and multidisciplinary artist who frequently partners with organizations to stage genealogy workshops and storytelling events.
She’ll start by looking at the concept of the “nuclear family” and how it has evolved far beyond old-school ideals as a result of economic shocks and shifting social values.
Then Fatou will share practical tools for capturing your own lineage—focusing on the art of oral history interviews with elders—and introduce a draft collection policy to help your family safely organize and steward its history. You will learn how to research ancestral lines not just through paperwork, but through art, music, food, and cultural spaces.
As a real-world example, Fatou will share her work with the Griot Collective, which hosts genealogy-focused events in Washington D.C., Detroit, and Alabama. She’ll also discuss her central role in developing University of Maryland grant funded Black Family Museum and Archive, which uses photographs, writing, video documentation, and 3D installations to tell stories.
Talk attendees are encouraged to bring something from their family’s past to discuss with other audience members as part of a “show-and-tell” portion of the event. (Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Listed time is for doors. Talk starts 30 minutes later.)
Image: A 1960s Ivery family photo from Detroit (via Fatou Sow).
