Director of Center for Family History Receives Elijah Abel Service Award

Congratulations to our own Center for Family History Director, Toni Carrier! Toni has been awarded the National Sons & Daughters of the United States Middle Passage (SDUSMP) Elijah Abel Service Award.

The award is given to individuals who show exemplary service towards helping others understand the history of slavery through genealogical research. 

Dr. Evelyn McDowell, president of the SDUSMP, praised Toni for her exemplary commitment to the history of slavery and the discipline of genealogy through her leadership as the International African American Museum’s Center for Family History director and the founding director of Lowcountry Africana, a nonprofit research project and free website dedicated to African American genealogy in the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor. 

Congratulations again to Toni for earning this prestigious award!

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Toni Carrier is the Director of the Center for Family History. She has been a consultant to the museum since 2015. Prior to joining the museum’s efforts, she was the Founding Director of Lowcountry Africana, a nonprofit research project and free website dedicated to African American genealogy in the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor. Ms. Carrier is the founder of the USF Africana Heritage Project and Co-founder of the website Mapping the Freedmen’s Bureau: An Interactive Online Finding Aid. Ms. Carrier has served as a panelist on the BlackProGen LIVE Internet broadcast since 2016 and is a regular speaker at national genealogy conferences. In the 16 years she has been working in and teaching African American genealogy in the Lowcountry, Ms. Carrier conducted research for the PBS series African American Lives II, researched the history of the Point of Pines slave dwelling on behalf of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, and traced Michelle Obama’s ancestry on behalf of the Obama for America campaign.

The Sons and Daughters of the United States Middle Passage (SDUSMP) is a lineage society for individuals who can trace their ancestry to enslaved people in the United States. The mission is to connect to enslaved ancestors and to each other through research; commemorate the memory of our enslaved ancestors; and educate others about American slavery and its impact on society. Our nine board members are all members or eligible members of the organization.

Sons and Daughters of the US Middle Passage honor the work of our members and community leaders for uplifting our enslaved ancestors and their descendants.