Book Breaks with Judith Giesberg on Last Seen: The Enduring Search by Formerly Enslaved People to Find Their Lost Families

 

Date & Time:  July 6, 2025, 02:00 PM in Eastern Time (US and Canada)

An Unholy Traffic book cover

Judith Giesberg reminds readers of the staggering scale of family separation during slavery by spotlighting a remarkable trove of primary sources: more than 5,000 “information wanted” ads and letters to the editor written by African Americans desperately seeking lost husbands, wives, children, and siblings. On one level, these poignant documents reveal the enduring hope and deep familial love that survived even the horrors of bondage. On another, they offer a striking counternarrative to the efforts of late-nineteenth-century White Americans to erase slavery’s brutal legacy. 

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For more information, please contact us at bookbreaks@gilderlehrman.org or visit us at gilderlehrman.org/bookbreaks.

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