The Marshall Legacy in Black and White

Why do we have no color, Grandma?

In 1976, at age 19, Kathy’s Marshall’s innocent question began to untangle her family’s complicated racial history. Decades later, she researches her ancestors, first stitching bits of lore, then centering everything in facts gleaned from official historical documents. Inspired by the novel, Roots, she travels to Georgia and discovers ancestors, both Black and White, slaves and slave owners. Her determination to unearth their stories is matched by what she learns: William Blount Marshall, a politician and White slave owner was a blood ancestor. Austin Marshall, a Pullman porter, puts his son through medical school. Rev. Israel Smith’s congressional testimony helped force a voter recount in Alabama in 1870, confounding the Klu Klux Klan and others who didn’t want Blacks to vote. The black genealogy legacies of her ancestors prove to Kathy that resilience knows no color.

This book includes a guide to writing your family history.