Michael Reese shares his stories of photographic discovery with Thomas Allen Harris during the DDFR Roadshow in Atlanta, GA.  Using the family photos that he has collected from various relatives over the years, Reese captivates his audience with tales of his family’s early history. A highlight of Reese’s presentation are stories of his father’s growing [...]

By Arianne C. Edmonds In a culture so obsessed with the preservation of “now” and the constant documentation of our daily lives via Facebook and Twiter, it was refreshing to participate in an event like the Digital Diaspora Family Reunion Road Show.  Under the workmanship of critically acclaimed filmmaker, Thomas Allen Harris, The DDFR Road [...]

For the past 15 years, I have been making documentary films that mined my family and extended African Diasporic family archive to create compelling stories that illuminate the intersections of personal family history with the historical sweep of our culture and times. My films explore issues around identity, family and desire in the context of [...]

Researching and writing about our family history based on family archives is part of the zietgeist! Check out Carla L. Peterson’s book “Black Gotham: A Family History of African Americans in Nineteenth-Century New York City”. My family goes back five generations in New York, so I can’t wait to read this book. According to the [...]