Living at Odds | Bonus: How To Find an Ancestor

How To! with Mike Pesca

Peach Fish Projects

Education, How To

4.3 • 2K Ratings

🗓️ 22 April 2025

⏱️ 22 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this exclusive Living at Odds bonus episode: Kellie Farrish tells Courtney Martin about the research tools and techniques she uses while helping people uncover information about ancestors lost to history. Farrish, a restorative genealogist, brings together descendants of people who were involved in American chattel slavery for conversations about family pain, generational trauma, dignity, and belonging.

Do you have a problem that needs solving? Send us a note at howto@slate.com or leave us a voicemail at 646-495-4001 and we might have you on the show. Subscribe for free on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen.

This episode was produced by Rosie Belson and Maura Currie. Our technical director is Merritt Jacob, who composed original music for this series. Our supervising producer is Joel Meyer.

This episode is member-exclusive. Listen to it now by subscribing to Slate Plus. By joining, not only will you unlock this episode—you'll also access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Visit slate.com/howtoplus to get access wherever you listen.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi everyone, I'm Susie Weiss, and I've noticed there's just simply not enough podcasts in the world. So I'm launching my own. Let's go. Let's go, baby. Second Thought is a weekly show about pop culture. The stuff everyone's been binging, arguing about, obsessing over. Here's the thing about heated rivalry. I mean, even the most devoted swifties, I think we can agree, not our best work. We'll be hosting thoughtful conversations with culture's most important figures. Talk about genius.
0:22.6	Talk about generational talent.
0:23.7	Coming to headphones near you on can agree not our best work. We'll be hosting thoughtful conversations with culture's most important figures.
0:21.8	Talk about genius.
0:22.6	Talk about generational talent.
0:23.7	Coming to headphones near you on April 17th with a first guest you won't want to miss.
0:27.8	Available wherever you get your podcasts.
0:32.6	Hello and welcome to a Slate Plus bonus episode for How To's special project Living at Odds.
0:39.4	I'm Courtney Martin.
0:41.2	In episode three of the series, you heard from people who are in conflict with their family history.
0:46.5	But in order to do that work, you must know what that history is.
0:50.9	Which is where one of the people you heard in that episode, the genealogist Kelly
0:54.8	Ferrish, came into play. Through reparative genealogy, Kelly tracks down people's
1:00.2	relatives and helps them understand how their ancestors lived. This understanding of the
1:05.3	past is meant to help her clients understand family pain, address generational trauma,
1:13.2	and restore a sense of dignity and belonging. I first came across Kelly at a screening of this great documentary called Acts of
1:19.5	Reparation. One aspect of the film is about reparative genealogy, which helps black people
1:24.6	locate their ancestors. The film shows how challenging it can be to track down those relatives
1:29.7	whose information has often been lost at time or violence
1:33.0	or in some cases deliberately destroyed.
1:36.3	Kelly helps with this kind of research using knowledge and skills that are just remarkable.
1:40.9	So, for this Slate Plus episode, I'm going to bring you more of my conversation with Kelly Farish about her amazing work.
	...

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