"Tracing Our Ancestors' Footprints" Presentation at MPAAGHS Monthly Meeting
September 9, 2023

Middle Peninsula African-American Genealogical and Historical Society (MPAAGHS) will hold its monthly meeting virtually on Saturday, September 9, 2023, at 11:00 AM Eastern Time. The meeting will feature a talk entitled "Tracing Our Ancestors' Footprints," given by historian and genealogist, Karice Luck-Brimmer.
In 2020, Army veteran Fred Miller purchased an 1850s-era Gothic Revival-style house near his childhood home in Pittsylvania County, Virginia. Miller's goal was to have a large space to host gatherings for his extended family; he did not expect to discover hidden facts about his family's past. Little did he know that the house, called Sharswood, was a plantation and that his ancestors had been enslaved there. The Miller family's discovery of their family connection to Sharswood is a riveting story that was featured on CBS' 60-Minutes, in the Washington Post, and by numerous other national media outlets. Luck-Brimmer's talk will explore the ways we reclaim our heritage as she shares her journey of tracing the Miller family back to Sharswood.
Karice Luck-Brimmer is an Education & Community Initiatives program associate for Virginia Humanities. She works primarily in the Dan River/Danviile region, where she collaborates with local community members to sustain a strong network of cultural organizations committed to positive change. As a public historian and genealogist, she has done extensive genealogical research in the Pittsylvania County area. One of her current projects is the development of the Danville Research Center for African American History & Culture. The founding president of the Danville/Pittsylvania County Chapter of the Afro-American Historical & Genealogical Society (AAHGS), she served on the Virginia Board of Historic Resources from 2019 to 2023. Luck-Brimmer is the owner of Our History Matters, LLC, an entity that provides heritage tours, historic preservation consulting, and genealogy services.
If you are not on our email list and would like to receive an invitation for this virtual meeting or to get further information about MPAAGHS, call 804.758.5163.