This year, California’s government approved a plan to pay reparations to residents of the state who can show that they are descendants of those formerly enslaved. Seeking the evidence will be a process, genealogists say.
Adrienne Abiodun knows she is a descendant of a once enslaved man, named Phillip Branch.
She knows the name of his former enslaver, as well – John Whitaker. Ms Abiodun’s fourth great-grandfather, Mr Branch, was born in North Carolina around 1795-1800 and then was brought to Mississippi.
Mr Branch’s entire family was enslaved by the…
