From family trees written in early American bibles to
birther conspiracy theories, genealogy has always mattered in the United
States, whether for taking stock of kin when organizing a family reunion or drawing
on membership—by blood or other means—to claim rights to land, inheritances,
and more. And since the advent of DNA kits that purportedly trace genealogical
relations through genetics, millions of people have used them to learn about
their medical histories, biological parentage, and ethnic background.
A Nation of Descendants traces Americans’ fascination
with tracking family lineage through three centuries. Francesca Morgan examines
how specific groups throughout history grappled with finding and recording
their forebears, focusing on Anglo-American white, Mormon, African American,
Jewish, and Native American people. Morgan also describes how individuals and
researchers use genealogy for personal and scholarly purposes, and she explores
how local businesspeople, companies like Ancestry.com, and Henry Louis
Gates Jr.’s Finding Your Roots series powered the
commercialization and commodification of genealogy.
Francesca Morgan is associate professor of history at
Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago and author of Women and
Patriotism in Jim Crow America.