Wanda Sykes’s Free Black Ancestors in the 1850s

PBS Learning Media
Contributed By
PBS Learning Media
Resource Type
Classroom Material
Keywords
VITAL New York Finding Your Roots fyr12 WNET Henry Louis Gates Jr. Slavery Wanda Sykes African American History Emancipation Freedom Free African Americans Antebellum South blacks black history
Subjects
History-Social Science
Grade Levels
Grade 9 Grade 10 Grade 11 Grade 12
Related Resources

Wanda Sykes’s Free Black Ancestors in the 1850s

This segment from the PBS series Finding Your Roots features Wanda Sykes as she learns about her free black ancestors in the 1850s. Historians discover a marriage license for two of Sykes's ancestors. Slaves, because they were considered property, were not allowed to marry. Thus, historians determine Sykes's black relative listed on the marriage license was free. The segment also details how dangerous life was for free blacks before the Civil War.
Publisher
PBS Learning Media

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