In Miami, Black Archives wants you to know your genealogy

Patricia Braynon, whose family has been in the U.S. since the 1800s, shows off a baptismal gown that has been in her family since the 1890s.

Jose Iglesias

jiglesias@elnuevoherald.com

A baptismal gown has been worn in Patricia Braynon’s family since the 1800s, when her family first arrived in the United States from the Bahamas. The gown and a ship manifest are just two of the items she’s helped to preserve in her family.

Since she was a little girl, Braynon was always following her mom around, asking her about her family’s history.

“You always have that one nosy kid that wants to learn everything about the family,” she said. “I never knew my grandfather … but I would hear the stories about him, and he just seemed like this most fascinating individual. So that kind of piqued my interest.”

Now, Braynon, who sits on the board of the Black Archives, is holding a workshop during the nonprofit’s inaugural Family Roots Festival in recognition of National Family History Month. The daylong event takes place Saturday at the Black Archives Historic Lyric Theater Cultural Arts Complex, and will include genealogy workshops, interactive storytelling and oral history segments from the HistoryMiami museum and the Black Broward Film Project, and a dedicated children’s activity zone.

Kamila Pritchett, Black Archives CEO, told the Miami Herald the nonprofit wanted to highlight genealogy given they interact with many people who visit the archives during family reunions who learn a little bit about their own history when they visit the complex.

“A lot of times people want to come and do tours or the community, and one of the things that strikes me the most when I’m doing these interactions with these groups is that no matter how old or young the person is, they always … learn something or some type of sixth degree of connection that they have with something in Miami’s Black community” she said. “Especially a city that you know from the outside looking in, people tend to think about beaches and the Latin culture, and they don’t really have a full grasp of how deep and rich black culture is in Miami.”

Pritchett said genealogy work is essential in respecting your ancestors and sacrifices they’ve made, and is a reminder to reclaim history.

The event comes at a time when Black history and the preservation of it are being threatened. In 2022, Florida passed House Bill 7, which included new curriculum standards, such as requiring instruction on how enslaved people benefited from their bondage, and banned books have been a hotly discussed topic in school districts.

Nationally, the Smithsonian museums in Washington, D.C., including the National Museum of African American History and Culture, are undergoing a review as part of the America 250 campaign, a purported nonpartisan effort to commemorate the country’s 250th anniversary.

Miami Gardens, FL, October 21, 2025 - Ship's Manifest dated 1919 belonging to Patricia Braynon, whose family has been in the U.S. since the 1800's. — Ship’s manifest dated 1919 belonging to Patricia Braynon, whose family has been in the U.S. since the 1800s. Jose Iglesias jiglesias@elnuevoherald.com

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Within 120 days of the review museums are expected to “begin implementing content corrections where necessary, replacing divisive or ideologically driven language with unifying, historically accurate, and constructive descriptions across placards, wall didactics, digital displays, and other public-facing materials.”

But Pritchett said the event isn’t because of what is playing out nationally.

“It is happening in spite of what is going on with the government because last year, we wanted to launch it, but we were in the midst of losing lots of different kinds of funding,” Pritchett said, adding they received local sponsorship from Milam’s Market. Little Lovett Petite Party Experience is helping with the children’s zone.

Pritchett said the event is a way for people not to take history for granted and a way to channel empowerment through knowing your past.

“There’s this meme, ‘I’m not my ancestors,’ in response to the climate that we’re in today. And I think that, in and of itself, speaks to the disconnect between the now,” Pritchett said. “I absolutely claim my ancestors because our ancestors were able to put comfort to the side and participate in boycotts and go out in the street and be hosed down, and lean on each other in community because they had to walk to work or like. That is a resilient, fighting spirit. And I think that because of all the luxuries of technology today, we are disconnected from the warriors that we are connected to by our bloodlines.”

Oscar and Patricia Braynon photographed at their home in Miami Gardens, Florida, on Oct. 21, 2025. Jose Iglesias jiglesias@elnuevoherald.com

The day’s events will include Braynon and her husband, Oscar, providing tips on starting one’s genealogical journey, author Jessica Garrett Modkins will also discuss things to consider when recording your family history versus that of the general community.

There will also be interactive storytelling and oral history components where attendees will have the opportunity to record their own stories and contribute them to the Black Archives digital collection. The children’s component will also allow for young people to connect with older relatives using multicultural hand puppets in role-play storytelling.

“We believe that now is the time for both sides of the spectrum to learn from each other, for the young people to learn from our elders and from our elders, to learn from the perspective of the youth,” Pritchett said. “Technology plays a big part in our day-to-day culture, and because it does, it can create a divide between those generations. We want to highlight oral histories as one of the older forms of storytelling, but also use the young voice to mesh it with today’s society.”

Braynon, who lives in Miami Gardens, said she hopes people walk away with a sense of urgency in protecting and passing down information in their family.

“I want them to feel that pride of knowing their ancestors, and the struggles and the joys that their ancestors had in making sure that they can now have the life that they have now,” she said. “I want everyone to be able to know that and feel that same pride that I feel for about my family.

“It’s important that we not only know our history, but preserve our history and pass down this information,” she said. “Many people realize after people are gone that, ‘Oh, I wish I had asked this question,’ or ‘I wish I had known.’ “