The Second Middle Passage: Following the DNA Trails

With slave ancestral research, one is often faced with direct evidence vs. indirect evidence. Many forms of direct evidence that emphatically prove family relationships, birthplaces, and other happenings are often non-existent because enslaved people were merely considered “property.” Some researchers have been very fortunate to find rare pieces of direct evidence, in the form of old family letters, diaries, ledgers, Bibles, etc., to positively identify enslaved ancestors and family structures. Many researchers often rely on a preponderance of indirect evidence to confirm enslaved ancestors. Collier presents two cases where DNA was a valuable piece of evidence that identified and confirmed enslaved ancestors and how DNA research provided clues to determine the areas where two enslaved ancestors had likely been sold away from during the domestic slave trade (Second Middle Passage).