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On The Record

'Last Seen' tells how ads helped formerly enslaved people find family

By Sheilah Kast,
Melissa Gerr
Published February 10, 2025 at 9:58 AM EST
Photo: Provided by Simon and Schuster
Photo: Provided by Simon and Schuster

The ads showed up in Black run newspapers for decades after the Civil War — urgent descriptions of loved ones sold away. We talk to history professor Judith Giesberg, who compiled an archive, and now a book: Last Seen: The Enduring Search by Formerly Enslaved People to Find Their Lost Families. Giesberg will speak at the downtown Pratt Library Mon. Feb. 10 at 7pm.

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On The Record On the RecordWYPR ProgramsBlack History Month
Sheilah Kast
Sheilah Kast is the host of On The Record, Monday-Friday, 9:30-10:00 am.
See stories by Sheilah Kast
Melissa Gerr
Melissa Gerr is a Senior Producer for On the Record. She started in public media at Twin Cities Public Television in St. Paul, Minn., where she is from, and then worked as a field producer for Oregon Public Broadcasting in Portland. She made the jump to audio-lover in Baltimore as a digital media editor at Mid-Atlantic Media and Laureate Education, Inc. and as a field producer for "Out of the Blocks." Her beat is typically the off-beat with an emphasis on science, culture and things that make you say, 'Wait, what?'
See stories by Melissa Gerr