As we welcome 2026, many of us are setting goals for the year ahead–whether to improve our health, careers, finances, or relationships. But what if one of our New Year’s resolutions was to deepen our connections with the people who brought us here?
Genealogy is about more than just names and dates. It is an act of love–a way of honoring the stories of those who came before us. For those of us exploring Black family history, every document, memory, and ancestor’s name we discover is a step toward healing and wholeness.
Before moving forward with the new, take a moment to recognize how much progress you’ve made. What was your genealogy journey like last year? Did you spend long evenings browsing digital archives? Were you surprised to find a family photograph or story unexpectedly?
As you set your New Year’s resolution, consider what you would like to improve in your genealogical journey. Here are some goals to think about:
- Interview an elder relative and document their stories.
- Visit a family cemetery or ancestral hometown.
- Organize your family materials – old photographs, obituaries, files, etc.
- Create a family history website.
- Take a DNA test or help a relative interpret theirs
- Share copies with other family members. Our history shouldn’t be kept in just one box or one person’s memory.
- Write your family history or a section of it as a narrative in a book or article.
- Join an African American genealogical society or local history group.
I have one goal: to learn about my adopted daughter’s biological parents and their families. The families were identified through DNA, and a maternal aunt contacted me on Ancestry after making the connection. My daughter is in touch with her biological relatives, and they have shared photographs. However, the research is still ongoing and has become more complicated. She has two half-brothers, but they have different mothers. The father of one of her brothers is adopted, and this adopted man is our daughter’s grandfather. The paternal family’s ancestor is Frank Campbell, whom the Jesuits of the Maryland Province enslaved. Our daughter descends from Campbell. I also descend from Jesuit-enslaved ancestors–Nace and Bibiana Butler. We have two descendants of two different ancestors who the Jesuits enslaved in our family.
As we enter 2026, may our resolution not just look forward but also reach back to those who made our journey possible. Every record we uncover, every story we share is another way of saying: We remember. We honor. We continue.