Episodes

  • Denise Griggs, Author of I Know Who I Am on The Family Tree - A Children's Guide to Genealogy

    Denise Griggs, Author of I Know Who I Am on The Family Tree - A Children's Guide to Genealogy
    Jan 24 2025
    Join Janice Cross Gilyard and Cherekana Feliciano for an interview/conversation with Denise Griggs, author of the new book, I Know Who I Am On The Family Tree - A Children's Guide to Genealogy. Denise has been the family genealogist for over 35 years. With the help of family, cousins, Internet friends, and others, she has discovered ancestors from various continents and countries. Some countries are Africa, Australia, England, Ireland, and North America. Denise has researched her maternal ancestors from eighth-century England to southwest Mississippi. She has written a book about it entitled, A Mulatto Slave, The Events in the Life of Peter Hunt, 1844-1915. The book received the Phillis Wheatley book award from the Sons and Daughters of the United States Middle Passage and earned a Finalist Award from the Next Generation Indie Book Awards. Ms. Griggs also author’s books for children on subjects of diversity and theology.

    She is a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), formerly serving as Chapter Parliamentarian. She is also a volunteer for the National Park Service, and the Natchez U.S. Colored Troops Monument Committee in Natchez, Mississippi. For the past several years, Denise has been the Exhibit Chair for the board of the Greater Sacramento African American Genealogy Society. She graduated with honors from a Christian University. She is presently the Publisher and Owner of Glass Tree Books® and Blue Eclipse Publishing®. She has several family genealogy presentations on her YouTube channel, D.I. Griggs Media. Denise loves family, friends, history, technology, research, writing, speaking, art, and travel.
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    52 mins
  • Robyne Walker Murphy - Social Justice Rooted in Love! Ancestry, Art, Culture, & Activism

    Robyne Walker Murphy - Social Justice Rooted in Love! Ancestry, Art, Culture, & Activism
    Jan 17 2025
    Join Janice Gilyard and Cherekana Feliciano for our conversation/interview with Robyne Walker Murphy.

    Robyne is a nationally recognized art and social justice thought leader and cultural strategist. From
    2016-2022, Robyne served as the Executive Director at Groundswell, a social justice youth
    development program that uses the transformative power of public art-making to ignite personal
    and societal change. Before her position at Groundswell, Robyne held positions at the National
    Guild for Community Arts Education and Dreamyard where she served as the director of the
    DreamYard Art Center in the Bronx. Under her leadership, DreamYard Art Center was recognized
    by the Obama White House as one of the top programs in the nation. Since stepping down from
    Groundswell, Robyne has worked as an arts and cultural strategist and consultant for organizations
    such as the Ford Foundation, The Cricket Island Foundation, and The Billie Holiday Theatre.
    Currently, she is the Leadership Strategist and Curriculum Developer for the Brooklyn Arts
    Leadership Collaborative, an initiative of the Brooklyn Museum and the Joe and Clara Tsai Social
    Justice Fund, which aims to support the work of eight Black and Brown-led arts organizations with
    budgets under 500K.

    Robyne has conducted workshops and delivered keynotes at conferences and
    institutions across the country on art and social activism at institutions such as Harvard University,
    Lincoln Center, Seattle Art Museum, University of Chicago, American University, and many others.
    She is a member of New York City’s Cultural Advisory Committee, a Metropolitan Museum of Art
    Women’s History Month Honoree, and Chair of the Board of Directors of 651ARTS. Robyne
    graduated from Clark Atlanta University (B.A. in English) and the University of Washington, Seattle
    (MFA, Acting). She resides in Brooklyn with her husband, Tarik Murphy, and her son, Ras.
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    44 mins
  • Interview with Danielle Romero/NYTN - Danielle's Journey: Uncovering a Story of Passing

    Interview with Danielle Romero/NYTN - Danielle's Journey: Uncovering a Story of Passing
    Jan 10 2025
    Join Janice Gilyard and Cherekana Feliciano for an interview with
    Danielle Romero. She is a storyteller and historian who started her YouTube channel, NYTN, to uncover her hidden Louisiana heritage and share the stories of her ancestors. Her work blends personal exploration with a passion for understanding American identity through history and genealogy.
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    33 mins
  • Joyce Willis: Featured on Finding Your Roots/Viewers Like You

    Joyce Willis: Featured on Finding Your Roots/Viewers Like You
    Sep 6 2024
    Join Janice & Cherekana for a conversation with Joyce Willis, featured guest on Finding Your Roots/Viewers Like You. Joyce is a native of Philadelphia PA. She attended the High School for the Creative and Performing arts and is a graduate of Temple University. She has been a civil servant for 11 years and has 1 beautiful daughter. Her interest in genealogy began as a child when she would hear some of the stories passed around by the “grown folks.” Although not much was said around the children, a desire to search for family history was kindled by some of the conversations about relatives She never met. Once she and other family members tested on Ancestry.com, many questions were finally answered. Buy there is always more to uncover!
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    31 mins
  • The Great Migration Griot: Chianta Dorsey

    The Great Migration Griot: Chianta Dorsey
    Jun 28 2024
    Join Janice Gilyard and Cherekana Feliciano for a conversation with Chianta Dorsey - The Great Migration Griot. Chianta Dorsey is an archivist who is currently researching her family's history and their participation in the Great Migration. She received her Bachelor's in History from Xavier University of Louisiana, where she specialized in African American Studies.She hopes her Instagram page, the Great Migration Griot, can develop into a space where descendants of the Great Migration can share their family stories and discuss the legacies of this movement. Great Migration Griot (@greatmigrationgriot) • Instagram photos and videos
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    48 mins
  • The People's Porch - Black Memorabilia with Nubia Lateefa

    The People's Porch - Black Memorabilia with Nubia Lateefa
    Jun 21 2024
    Join Janice Gilyard and Cherekana Feliciano for a conversation with Nubia Lateefa from The People's Porch. Nubia is a native Kentuckian, an independent archivist, and collector. She is the owner of The Peoples Porch, a collection of Black memorabilia and literary archives specializing in vintage and rare Black literature. Nubia will share her journey regardng curating Black archives that started with her grandmothers. Her grandmothers maintained a vast collection of family history dating back to the 19th century. The People’s Porch Collection (@thepeoplesporchcollection)
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    24 mins
  • Red Clay Legacies with Mell Fisher

    Red Clay Legacies with Mell Fisher
    Jun 14 2024
    Red Clay Legacies is a project led by Mell Fisher, who believes that preserving the ancestry of others is her calling. Mell is an Ohio resident with family roots in Pikeville, Bledsoe County Tn., Muscogee and Harris County Ga, and Pemiscot, Mo. She grew up listening to her grandparents’ stories about their childhood and relatives. She felt like she had known them all her life despite the fact they never met. In 2013 after a tough breakup, Mell delved into her maternal family history, which led her to solve some family mysteries and investigate a rumored family murder plot. She unexpectedly found a new passion for family research and created Red Clay Legacies, becoming what is now known as a Genealogical Biographer. She builds family trees and creates reference books from those trees that will last generations. Mell has been featured in the Bledsonian-Banner newspaper and is a completely self-taught family researcher. Red Clay Legacies | family history research (authormellfisher.wixsite.com)
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    53 mins
  • Orice Jenkins|Author|The Early County Massacre: Goolsby vs The State of Georgia

    Orice Jenkins|Author|The Early County Massacre: Goolsby vs The State of Georgia
    Jun 7 2024
    Join Janice Gilyard and Cherekana Feliciano for a conversation with Orice Jenkins, Author of The Early County Massacre: Goolsby vs. The State of Georgia. In his book, Orice tells the full story of Ulysses Goolsby and the massacre more than 100 years later, highlighting the relationships between the victims and survivors and emphasizing the noble accomplishments and sacrifices of Grandison and Mary Goolsby. Orice Jenkins is a recording artist, genealogist, educator, and author from Hartford, Connecticut. He began researching his family history upon discovering that Whitney Houston’s grandparents were from his grandmother’s hometown of Blakely, Georgia. Since then, he has traced his ancestry back to 1756, uncovering the stories of several formerly enslaved Americans. Orice is a member of the Sons and Daughters of the U.S. Middle Passage and the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society. He has been featured on podcasts and radio shows such as “Research at the National Archives & Beyond” and “Grating the Nutmeg” and presented his findings to Racial Justice Rising and at the Indiana African American Genealogy Group annual conference. Orice has worked as a consultant for Dr. Matt Baker, the creator of UsefulCharts.com, collaborating on genealogy videos that have garnered millions of views on YouTube. In 2022, he contributed to Bernice Bennett’s latest book: Black Homesteaders of the South (Arcadia Publishing/The History Press) and appeared with other Homesteader descendants at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture during Black History Month in 2023. Orice also publishes a blog called Chesta’s Children and serves as the Executive Director of a youth music program in Greenfield, Massachusetts. www.oricejenkins.com
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    37 mins