Research notebook · August 12, 2026
Following the enslavers' records without making the enslavers the story
Analysis
From the research notebook ofAmberly R. Carter-Mills— Founder, Creator & Descendant Archivist
The records of enslavers are often among the few surviving sources that name, value, transfer or describe enslaved ancestors. BEFORE TILL uses those records to reconstruct the lives of the enslaved people at the center of the archive. The goal is not to build the enslavers' genealogy. The goal is to recover the people whose lives were documented inside those systems.
Enslavers therefore appear in the Historical Network and never in the Living Lineage. Their presence records what they did, not who anyone is related to.