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Our Legacy
Since 1979, AAGHSC has preserved, documented, and shared African American family history while helping families recover names, restore stories, and protect legacies for future generations. Our work reaches beyond Chicago through our members extended families, research, preservation projects, publications, and a community committed to ensuring that Black family history is never lost. Our legacy is measured not only in years, but in the records preserved, the stories recovered, and the people who carried this work forward.
Our Work
- Indexing projects
- Mississippi Death Indexing Project (1912–1924)
- Heritage Book publication
- Member-authored publications such as Index of Headstones in Lincoln Cemetery, Chicago, Illinois
- Study Groups and educational workshops
- Genealogy Reboot Series
- Preservation of local records and family histories
- Community-based research and historical documentation
- Mentorship for new and experienced researchers
Our People
Behind every record preserved is a person who cared enough to begin.
AAGHSC has been shaped by long-serving members, past presidents, study group chairs, and volunteers whose work built the Society’s foundation. Their research, leadership, and commitment created pathways for future generations to continue the work.
Our members have authored books, led indexing projects, preserved local records, and mentored new researchers—often doing quiet work that changed entire family histories.
Through our Roll Call of Remembrance, we honor members who have joined the ancestors, recognizing not only what they discovered, but the legacy they left behind for others to follow.
Our Future
What we do not preserve, we lose.
The future of AAGHSC depends on the next generation of researchers, storytellers, and preservationists who are willing to continue this work. Family history does not survive by accident—it survives because someone chooses to protect it.
Our responsibility is not only to remember the past, but to make sure the future has something to remember.
Even long-standing traditions must sometimes pause so the institution itself can endure. For the first time in 45 years, AAGHSC will not host an Annual Conference this year—a difficult decision, but the right one as we reset, refocus, and rebuild for the future.
Whether through membership, mentorship, volunteering, or simply beginning your own family research, every person has a role in preserving Black family history.
