The Color of Family: History, Race, and the Politics of Ancestry
by Michael O'Malley
is about how people end up on one side of the "color line" in the US, a line that was policed for centuries, but especially after the Civil War was over - think the "paper bag test" and the "one drop rule"... Michael O'Malley, the author who identifies as a Philadelphia Irish American, found that he had "colored" ancestors in Virginia, because of the way the color line was policed, and particularly profiling a "zealous eugenicist"Walter Plecker, who ran Virginia's Bureau of Vital Statistics in the first half of the 1900s. O'Malley explores his own racial assumptions but also how, with the coming of the modern age, the documents used to establish identity were freighted with the racial agenda of these bureaucrats and also the private business agenda of the companies that now control these documents - ancestry.com to be precise. There is much food for thought here, in a book both personal and historical. It goes to the heart of the American experiment, especially its racial dimensions.
I tried to include a photo of the book cover... had technical difficulty. Apologies!
Also, I have just become aware of a new database of genealogical information about people who were enslaved in western Missouri (Jackson County especially), leading up to the Civil War. This database is an amazing resource for those who believe they may have ancestors who were enslaved here in the Kansas City area. It is free to use; a great addition to resources in tracing black genealogy in the Midwest.
