The Genealogy of Roberts Settlement Explored Through Black Feminist Autoethnography

Abstract

This autoethnographic research examines the legacy of Roberts Settlement, a mixed-race settlement in Indiana that became one of the largest rural communities of free people of color in the state before the 20th century. As a Roberts descendent, the researcher uses Black feminist thought and poetic inquiry to investigate the gendered and racial family narratives that constitute the genealogy of the Roberts family. Utilizing present and past narratives to analyze the lived experience of being a black hoosier woman, the researcher finds that dominant male narratives marginalize the stories of Black women in the Roberts family genealogy.

Introduction: Gender’s Influence on Genealogy Narratives

“…Using ethnographic and autoethnographic methods, Yamaguchi situates her own lineage within the Fukui family while contextualizing the importance of the mortuary within the Japanese American culture in Los Angeles. Peters (2017) research works at the center of gender and racial family narratives in its examination of the lives of free people of color pre-20th century. Peters, a Roberts Settlement descendent, examines this mixed-race community in Indiana and applies a lens of Black feminist thought and poetic inquiry to underpin this work.…”