The Trask 250: Breakthroughs in African American Genealogy

Atlantic Black Box is a 501c3 nonprofit committed to grassroots historical recovery work. We empower communities throughout the Northeast to research and reckon with the region’s active role in colonization and slavery while recentering the stories of its historically marginalized groups.

Atlantic Black Box

Next up in our speaker series, genealogist Nicka Sewell-Smith will share her discoveries about the ancestors enslaved by MA residents

In late 2014, Nicka Sewell-Smith uncovered one of the biggest finds of her genealogy career thanks initially to genetic genealogy and later traditional family history research. The Trask 250 series amplifies the voices of the more than 6,000 people she is now connected to through DNA, community, and kinship who have ties to a defined enslaved community based in Adams and Wilkinson Counties in Mississippi, and Concordia and Pointe Coupee Parishes in Louisiana.. These extraordinary folks were or had ancestors that were enslaved by brothers Israel Elliot Trask, James Lawrence Trask, Augustus Trask, and/or William Porter Trask along with their niece Charlotte Pynchon Davis Ventress, nephew Augustus Trask Welch, and James Alexander Ventress. The Trask family was largely based in Massachusetts but profited from plantations in Mississippi and Louisiana. Additionally, this defined enslaved community is uniquely positioned, as it has ties to the origins of Amherst College in the north and the University of Mississippi in the south. About the speaker:Nicka Smith is a professional photographer, speaker, host, consultant, and documentarian with more than 20 years of experience as a genealogist. She has extensive experience in African ancestored genealogy, reverse genealogy, and is expert in genealogical research in the Northeastern Louisiana area, and researching enslaved communities.Nicka has diverse and varied experience in media with a background in audio, video, and written communications. She’s appeared on TODAY Show, CNN, MSNBC, on the series Who Do You Think You Are and has been interviewed by Oakland Tribune, The Undefeated, National Geographic, and TIME. She is the host of BlackProGen LIVE, an innovative web show with more than 125 episodes focused on people of color genealogy and family history.

<a href="https://atlanticblackbox.com/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Atlantic Black Box</a> is a grassroots historical recovery project that empowers communities throughout New England to research, reveal, and begin reckoning with the region’s complicity in the slave trade and the global economy of enslavement.What Happened Here is a speaker series from Atlantic Black Box featuring citizen historians and scholars doing groundbreaking research to reveal the suppressed history of New England.

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The Trask 250: Breakthroughs in African American Genealogy

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