NewsLocal NewsIn Your NeighborhoodBrazos County

Actions

Brazos Valley African American Museum assists in finding family on Juneteenth

Brazos Valley African American Museum introduces new exhibits, genealogy assistance for Juneteenth
Posted

BRYAN, Texas — Trinity Gibson, a Denton native, believed her family's history stopped at her grandmother until she made the step to learn more.

She says she will be the first person in her family to share the information she found.

"I'm really excited to share with my family because I know a lot of Black people don't have a lot about their ancestry and can only trace back so far," Gibson said.

The Brazos Valley African American Museum opened Monday to introduce its new Emancipation exhibit to the community in celebration of Juneteenth.

The museum also offered free genealogy for attendees to trace their ancestry, an activity the museum hopes will boost its attendance.

The genealogy assistance involves searching family members using websites like Ancestry.com and searching for obituaries in newspapers.

Gibson says she found information about the death of her great-grandfather and the death of her grandmother's brother — but he says she wants to learn more about her family history to find out where she comes from.

"I want to go really far back. I want to know who was a slave, who might have been free. Do I have anyone in my family who was an important historical figure?," Gibson said.

The museum offered genealogy until 3:30 p.m. Monday afternoon but offers appointments on their website.