Monday - Session 3D2:00 pm - 2:45 pm
African American Homesteaders
Presented by Denise I. Griggs
This class will dispel the myth that African American former slaves didn’t own land after Emancipation. Many men and women were able to acquire up to 160 acres of land through the Homestead Act of May 20, 1862, once they were emancipated and became citizens. This presentation will show how to locate and obtain the records of the homesteaders.
Session Handout: Click here.
About Denise I. Griggs:
Denise is the Exhibit Chair on the Board of the Greater Sacramento African American Genealogy Society. She is a volunteer for the Natchez U. S. Colored Troops (USCT) Monument Committee in Natchez, MS, serving on the subcommittees of History and Research, and Marketing and Public Relations. She is also a volunteer researcher for the National Park Service (NPS) Black Homesteaders.
Ms. Griggs is a descendant of several U.S. Colored Troops (USCT), soldiers who served during the Civil War, of Mississippi Black land homesteaders, and several United States soldiers of the American Revolution. She is also a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR). Denise has over 40 years of genealogy experience and has taught African American genealogy at seminars, community events, churches, schools, the Sacramento Legislature, and African American museums in Sacramento, CA, Oakland, CA and Washington, D.C. Ms. Griggs graduated from a Christian University, is an identical twin, retired and lives in No. CA.
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