Black History | Colorism Origins: Slave Registers Revelations | US (EST)

Black History provides the starting point for this powerful masterclass, where Paul Crooks uncovers the roots of colorism through African-Caribbean and African-American ancestry and the historical records that shaped racial thinking across the diaspora. Drawing on more than 200 years of family history, Paul reveals how 19th-century Slave Registers expose the early foundations of colorism and the hierarchies imposed during enslavement.

Through this genealogy-driven perspective, Paul shows how enslaved communities were taught to embrace colour rankings and why those ideas persisted long after the end of transatlantic slavery. By examining archival documents and ancestral narratives, he demonstrates how these inherited beliefs continue to influence attitudes, identity, and social structures today.

In this session, you’ll explore:

• What the 1817 Slave Registers reveal about colour classification
• How colour hierarchies shaped African-Caribbean and African-American experiences
• Why colorism endured after emancipation
• How understanding these histories can empower conversations about identity

This talk is for anyone seeking deeper insight into Black History, the evolution of colorism, or the ancestral stories that continue to shape our lives.

Join Paul for an eye-opening exploration of how historical records inform today’s conversations about race, identity, and belonging.

Plus Ticket

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Black History of Resistance & Abolition Timeline (interactive PowerPoint)

Watch the trailer: https://youtu.be/9vIa8Q9yjh8?si=vTLS31X6efdx18rn

Premium Ticket

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Black History of Resistance & Abolition Timeline (interactive PowerPoint)

Descendants (digital copy)

Watch the trailer: https://youtu.be/BmI8rTjUEmE

Deluxe Ticket

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Black History of Resistance & Abolition Timeline (interactive PowerPoint)

Descendants (digital copy)

DNA Testing Demystified (eBook)

Watch the trailer: https://youtu.be/mQanCy3o1XM

About The Speaker

Paul Crooks is a trailblazing genealogist and published author with a specialist interest in Black ancestry. He pioneered Black genealogy research in the 1990s, tracing his African Caribbean family history from London back six generations — to ancestors enslaved on a sugar plantation in North America 200 years ago, and further still to forebears on the Gold Coast of West Africa.

Paul gained national recognition with his acclaimed historical novel Ancestors, based on his family’s story, and he appeared as an expert on Black British genealogy on Who Do You Think You Are? with Moira Stuart. His second book, A Tree Without Roots, is regarded as a seminal guide to tracing Black British ancestry.

Paul is credited with inspiring an upsurge of interest in Black and British genealogy and is recognised as having sparked a movement in African Caribbean family history research, linking generations separated by slavery and reconnecting people of African descent with their ancestral heritage.