Drawing from an archive of nearly five thousand letters and advertisements, Last Seen is the riveting story of formerly enslaved people who spent years searching for family members stolen away during slavery. Don’t miss Judith Giesberg’s illustrated presentation and discussion with Princeton historian Tera W. Hunter about this “heartbreaking, and essential” book (Jill Lepore), “a vital work of recovery” (Ilyon Woo).

Of all the many horrors of slavery, the cruelest was the separation of families. Spouses and siblings were sold away from one other. Young children were separated from their mothers. Fathers were “sent down river” never to see their families again. As soon as slavery ended in 1865, family members began to search for one another by all means possible, including “information wanted” advertisements and letters placed in newspapers. For years, for decades, members of the “Freedom Generation” searched for each other. Drawn from a remarkable and illuminating archive founded by author Judith Giesberg, Last Seen shares the heart-wrenching stories of these separated families, shining light on their pursuit.

Judith Giesberg is professor of history and Robert M. Birmingham chair in the humanities at Villanova University. She is the founder and director of the Last Seen archive, and the author of several previous books on Civil War history, including Army at Home, and Emilie Davis’s Civil War.

Tera W. Hunter is the Edwards Professor of American History and Chair of the Department of African American Studies at Princeton University. She is a specialist in the 19th and 20th centuries, focusing on gender, race, labor, and Southern histories; and the author of Bound in Wedlock: Slave and Free Black Marriage in the Nineteenth Century and To ‘Joy My Freedom: Southern Black Women’s Lives and Labors After the Civil War, both multi-prizewinners. She has written opinion pieces for The New York Times, The Nation, Hammer and Hope, The Root, The Washington Post, and others. She is a native of Miami, Florida.

Presented in partnership with 10 Million Names