My students and I are beginning work assisting our collaborator Emily Washines and her relatives in the Yakama Nation (central Washington State) in understanding the life of her cousin Martha Bassett (traditional surname Pochahsquinest). Miss Bassett. who went missing in Chicago in 1967, was searched for by her family for decades. Recent forensic DNA researchContinue reading “In Search of Martha (Pochahsquinest) Bassett (1936-1968) of the Yakama Nation”
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Beholding “The Herds” and the Breath of the Planet
Like millions around the world, I have been transfixed by the journey of “The Herds”, often termed the largest public art project ever attempted, during the spring and summer of 2025. Hundreds of life-size wild animal puppets or mobile animal sculptures, guided or animated by their human puppeteers, have undertaken a dramatic migration from theContinue reading “Beholding “The Herds” and the Breath of the Planet”
In Search of Tom, escaped by Canoe from Georgetown, October 1761
In a previous post I mentioned the enslaved man Tom, who escaped from merchant Robert Peter of Georgetown on October 4, 1761. On October 9, 1761 Peter placed the following advertisement in the Maryland Gazette “Rock Creek October 9, 1761. Ran away from the Subscriber in the 4th instant, a very likely Negro Fellow namedContinue reading “In Search of Tom, escaped by Canoe from Georgetown, October 1761”
The slave ship Peggy in Georgetown Port [DC], 1770
What do we know of the Peggy, the slave ship that transported 144 enslaved Africans from the Windward Coast in West Africa in 1770, evidently selling scores of captive people in the port of Georgetown (then in Frederick County, Maryland) which three decades later became part of the District of Columbia? It would appear thatContinue reading “The slave ship Peggy in Georgetown Port [DC], 1770”
“Talks in her own language very fast”: In search of Sarah and Isaac, escaped from Robert Peter, October 1759.
On October 18, 1759, two “new negroes” (recently arrived from Africa), named Isaac and Sarah, escaped from Robert Peter (July 22, 1726 – November 15, 1806), a prominent Scottish-born merchant then living in Georgetown. On December 6, 1759, Peter placed the following advertisement in the Maryland Gazette: “Ran away from the Subscriber, on Thursday, theContinue reading ““Talks in her own language very fast”: In search of Sarah and Isaac, escaped from Robert Peter, October 1759.”
In search of Richard Low, “Perfectly Black”
Yesterday, at the joint celebration of the sculptor Allen Uzikee Nelson and Paul Robeson, in front of the “Here I Stand (in the Spirit of Paul Robeson)” sculpture in Paul Robeson Triangle Park in Petworth DC, we had the great pleasure of hearing local poet CeLilliane Green recite her poem, “I am Perfectly Black”, inspiredContinue reading “In search of Richard Low, “Perfectly Black””
Remembering Joe Auslander, 1930-2025
Joseph (“Joe”) Auslander died peacefully at his home in Washington, D.C., on April 7, 2025, halfway through his 95th year. Moments before, he had fallen asleep sitting at his computer while working on a mathematical problem. Joe was born September 10, 1930, in New York City, to Dr. Jacob “Bi” Auslander and Rebekah Zeltzer Auslander.Continue reading “Remembering Joe Auslander, 1930-2025”
In Search of Pattie (Patsy or Margaret B) Brooks and Harry Brooks, Enslaved and Free in Georgetown, District of Columbia
The 1836 register of the Methodist Episcopal Church (later Mount Zion Church) in Georgetown, District of Columbia, lists as a member “Pattie Brooks”, recorded just below the name of Gracie Ducket, who was enslaved by Samuel Whitall, who leased the property known as Belle Vue (later known as Rittenhouse Place, and after that, Dumbarton House).Continue reading “In Search of Pattie (Patsy or Margaret B) Brooks and Harry Brooks, Enslaved and Free in Georgetown, District of Columbia”
Puzzling over a genealogical connection to Samarkand, Uzbekistan
I am puzzling over a connection through ancestry.com indicating that Abduvohid “Abdu” Abdurasulov, born in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, and I are share about 2 per cent DNA. This could indicate we are second or third cousins, or this might, because of the complexities of relative endogamy, mean that we are related to one another in moreContinue reading “Puzzling over a genealogical connection to Samarkand, Uzbekistan”
In Search of the Family of Joseph Anderson, c.1857-1904
My Mount Holyoke College students and I have been intrigued and moved by the story of Joseph Anderson, an African American laborer buried in Mont Zion cemetery in north Georgetown, Washington DC. Like Moses Boone, Joseph Anderson was interred without this brain, which had been extracted by a Smithsonian anthropologist in 1904 for the “racialContinue reading “In Search of the Family of Joseph Anderson, c.1857-1904”
Mark Auslander 