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This isn’t the only way that @Ancestry whitewashes slavery. In the past year they also changed their search engine. It used to be if your ancestor owned slaves it would pop up when you searched their name. That’s no longer true. The slave censuses are no longer name searchable.https://twitter.com/BuzzFeed/status/1119018785636143106 …
This change means you won’t ever know your ancestor was a slave owner unless you specifically go looking and do a keyword search specifically on the slave census. Even then it’s harder to find them as it doesn’t look for common misspellings or initials anymore.
I don’t know if it’s purposeful but @Ancestry knows about the issue & haven’t fixed it yet. They claimed the old way caused issues for family trees when records were saved but they could find a way around that issue if they wanted. They don’t seem to want to spend the resources.
It also makes it harder for me and my students to research if someone owned slaves. Thanks to @CristaCowan who figured out the cause of the issues. Hopefully @Ancestry fixes it soon. This is a chance for them to show they listen to historians about how to not whitewash the past.
Hopefully #Twitterstorians weigh in and help get them to change their ways.
I imagine this impacts a lot of people’s research including @sams_reckoning @KeriLeighMerrit @slavedwelling @slaveryuva @ProfMSinha @jwbernier @rothmanistan
When did this change happen? I used ancestry (library edition) for some research a month or two ago and was able to do name searches on both the 1850 and 1860 slave schedules.
These records are no longer part of standard search results. You can search them, you have to specifically go looking for them. Before, it sounds like they came up in general search results.
It’s not an insidious plot to whitewash anything. It’s the perpetual struggle to keep everyone happy. It’s also a product of ignorance re: the Ancestry tree software, because it by no means changes the name of anyone automatically upon attaching a record.
Does Family Search (aka "Mormon genealogical library") let you use their resources without signing up for visits from missionaries pressuring you to join?
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