Middle Peninsula African-American Genealogical and Historical Society (MPAAGHS) will conduct its monthly meeting virtually on Saturday, Jan. 10, at 11 a.m. The meeting will feature a talk by historian Judith Giesberg about her book, “Last Seen: The Enduring Search by Formerly Enslaved People to Find Their Lost Families.” Published in February 2025, this groundbreaking book brings to light the resilient efforts of formerly enslaved people to reunite with family members torn apart by slavery.
Drawing from the archive that she founded of nearly 5,000 letters and advertisements, Giesberg tells the riveting story of formerly enslaved people who were separated from their families by the domestic slave trade and who later searched for their loved ones, sometimes for generations.
In “Last Seen,” Giesberg weaves deeply personal narratives with in-depth historical research, highlighting the determination of those who refused to let the horrors of family separation define their futures. Through these stories, she sheds new light on a vital, little-explored chapter in American history.
Her in-depth research turned up additional information about the writers, their families, and their enslavers. With this critical context, she recounts the moving stories of the people who placed the advertisements, the loved ones they tried to find, and the outcome of their quests to reunite.
Dr. Judith Giesberg serves as the Robert M. Birmingham chairman in the humanities and is professor of history at Villanova University. Her latest book, “Last Seen: The Enduring Search by Formerly Enslaved People to Find Their Lost Family,” was published by Simon and Schuster in February 2025. She is also the author of “Civil War Sisterhood: The United States Sanitary Commission and Women’s Politics in Transition” (2000), “Army at Home: Women and the Civil War on the Northern Home Front” (2009), Emilie Davis’ “Civil War: The Diaries of a Free Black Woman in Philadelphia, 1863-1865” (2014), and “Sex and the Civil War: Soldiers, Pornography, and the Making of Modern Morality” (2017). Dr. Giesberg directs a digital project, “Last Seen: Finding Family After Slavery,” that is collecting, digitizing, and transcribing ads taken out by formerly enslaved people looking for family members lost to the domestic slave trade.
To receive an invitation for this virtual meeting or for information about MPAAGHS, email mpaaghs.va@gmail.com or call 651-8753.
