KY U.S. Colored Troops Project

This webinar will highlight the Kentucky U.S. Colored Troops Project. The goal of this project is to document the lives of all 23,700 African American soldiers who enlisted in the Union Army from Kentucky. According to researchers, for each soldier who had children, there could be 1,700 descendants today. If that is so, this project has the potential to benefit over 40 million African Americans nationwide.

About our presenters:

Dan Gediman is executive director of the non-profit organization Reckoning, Inc. and executive producer of the radio and podcast series The Reckoning: Facing the Legacy of Slavery in America. The Kentucky U.S. Colored Troops Project is a multi-year initiative of Reckoning, Inc. The project uses military records which mention the names of Black soldiers’ enslavers to find archival documents which help identify members of the soldier’s family, allowing for the creation of family trees that connect present day African Americans to their enslaved ancestors.

Denyce Porter Peyton has been a genealogical researcher and enthusiast for over 25 years, providing professional research since 2004. Her research specialties focus on nineteenth and twentieth century Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, and Southeastern states, and African Americans in antebellum and post-Emancipation eras.