Roots and Remembrance
The Middle Passage Journal

A Continuing Biographical Encyclopedia of Africans and Their Descendants Enslaved in America
 

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Sample Entries

🔶 SECTION 1 — Why This Journal Exists

Why We Remember

For centuries, millions of Africans and their descendants lived, labored, loved, endured, and built families in what became the United States. Many appear in the historical record only as numbers, valuations, or anonymous entries in estate inventories.

This journal exists to restore what those records withheld.

Roots and Remembrance is a continuing biographical encyclopedia documenting the lives of individuals who were enslaved in America. Each entry is grounded in historical documentation. Each life is treated with dignity.

By recording names, we resist erasure.
By citing records, we ground memory in evidence.
By linking individuals, we begin restoring families fragmented by slavery.

About the Journal

🔶 SECTION 2 — What You’ll Find Here

What This Journal Includes

• Documented biographical entries

• Named and unnamed individuals

• Family linkages across records

• Archival citations

• Optional document images and transcriptions

• Poetry and reflections on remembrance

• Reviews of books, memorial sites, and museums
  
  

This is a digital-first publication with print-on-demand availability.

View Editorial Standards

🔶 SECTION 3 — Featured Entry Preview

John (c. 1825 – after 1853)
Blount County, Alabama

John was a man living in Blount County, Alabama, in the mid-nineteenth century. In the 1853 probate inventory of William Carter, he was listed alongside a woman named Susan and three children…

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🔶 SECTION 4 — Call for Contributions

Contribute to the Record

Descendants, genealogists, researchers, and students are invited to submit documented biographical entries.

Minimum required documentation:

• Document type

• County and state

• Year

• Page or file reference (if available)
  
  

Transcriptions and images are encouraged but not required.

AI tools may be used responsibly. Documentation is required.

Submit an Entry

🔶 SECTION 5 — Archival Commitment

A Permanent Record

Roots and Remembrance is conceived as a multi-volume, expanding encyclopedia. Each volume adds to a permanent historical record designed to ensure that the lives of those who endured enslavement are documented, cited, and preserved.

Published by:
Sons and Daughters of the United States Middle Passage (SDUSMP)

Learn About SDUSMP

Who May Contribute

We welcome submissions from descendants, genealogists, students, historians, and community researchers.

You do not need to be a professional scholar to contribute. Documentation and care are the standard.

Artificial Intelligence tools may assist with drafting, but all factual claims must be supported by documented evidence.  See sample prompt here.

Our Long-Term Vision

Roots and Remembrance is conceived as a multi-volume, expanding archive.

The long-term goal is to document as many identifiable individuals as possible who endured enslavement in America, creating a searchable and citable record for generations to come.

Future volumes will expand the biographical record and may include curated sections on remembrance sites, cultural reflection, and scholarship related to the history of slavery.

Published By

The journal is published by:

Sons and Daughters of the United States Middle Passage (SDUSMP)

SDUSMP is a lineage society dedicated to commemorating the lives of enslaved and freed ancestors of African descent, connecting descendants through genealogy, and educating the public about the institution and legacy of American slavery.