A Historian Dives Into Her Family History — and Wonders if Maybe You Should, Too

Today, I want to share something a little different: a personal story from “one of our country’s greatest historians.”¹

In The Trouble of Color: An American Family Memoir, Professor Martha S. Jones unearths her family’s history, dating back to when her great-great-great-grandmother survived enslavement. Over the generations—from Kentucky to North Carolina to Long Island—Professor Jones’s forebears challenged “the notion that there is a straight, clear, bright color line.” The story is at once unique to her family and quintessentially American. All of us, Professor Jones told me, have records that historians treasure (so don’t throw them out!).

Martha S. Jones is the Society of Black Alumni Presidential Professor, Professor of History, and Professor at the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University. She has contributed to The New York Times, The Atlantic, and many other publications and is the prizewinning author and editor of five books.

Given how personal this story is, I’m sharing the podcast version first, which I think best captures the depth, emotion, and nuance of Professor Jones’ words. You can also read a transcript, edited for clarity, here:

1. Quoting bestselling author Clint Smith