It seems like I’ve written this column before. And truth be known, in my more than a quarter century of writing “Roots & Branches,” I’ve returned to the topic of the value of historical newspapers ...

A nagging question she had pondered for years inspired professor Naseemah Mohamed’s latest course: What knowledge could she give students that they would carry with them beyond college? As an ...

“Our ancestors dwell in the attics of our brains as they do in the spiraling chains of knowledge hidden in every cell of our bodies.” — Shirley Abbott I never really felt a burning desire to trace my ...

ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published. Two decades ago, an anthropology professor at the University ...

Unlock your Civil War ancestry: Learn how to access Union and Confederate military and pension records, discover research tips and find hidden family history in archives and overlooked sources.

As a trusted leader in Japanese ancestral research, Kaju, Inc. brings together a team of expert genealogists with deep knowledge of historical records, Koseki (family registers), and other essential ...

In 2010, Tamara K. Lanier was still reeling from her mother’s death. Though her day-to-day work as a probation officer continued, Lanier still wrestled with the promise she had made to her mother ...

Genetic ancestry is much more complicated than how people report their race and ethnicity. New research, using data from the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) "All of Us" Research Program, finds ...

I am a first-generation American, and my family hails from Guyana (and before that, Germany). What resources are best for researching Guyanese roots? —Sharifa Rohlehr There are excellent resources for ...