Finding Unheard Voices in Public Records and Documents

In this program, Finding Unheard Voices in Public Records and Documents, author Coleen DeGroff will share how she published the first book on African American enslavement in Alachua County. She will describe her approach to creating and publishing a book using public records and historical archives, and how her discovery of long-hidden documents led her to find accounts of hundreds of enslaved people who were brought to Alachua County to labor on nearly five dozen plantations for half a century, generating a significant amount of wealth for the region. Alachua County Black Book: Accounts of Enslaved People Discovered in Ancient Records uses bills of sale, wills, mortgages, and other records to offer a glimpse into the lives of the enslaved and the people who enslaved them between 1815 and 1865. DeGroff hopes that this compilation of long-buried accounts from public archives will help other writers share the tales of these unheard voices so they are not forgotten. From the time Coleen…