Academy Honors Stories About the Search for the Names of 10 Million Enslaved People
McGRATHPR.com – ABC News Live is officially in the running to win an Emmy®—television’s most prestigious award–in the category of News & Documentary: Outstanding Arts, Culture, or Entertainment for its 2024 coverage of 10 Million Names, a project by American Ancestors® to find and name the estimated 10 million people who were enslaved in what is now the United States before emancipation in 1865. The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) selected the network’s 10 Million Names coverage out of “content from more than 2,200 submissions” that were originally broadcast during the 2024 calendar year, according to the NATAS website. NATAS revealed its list of nominees on May 1 and will announce the News awards on June 25 at the Palladium Times Square in New York City.
ABC News has been the national media partner of 10 Million Names since its launch at the National Association of Black Journalists conference in Birmingham, Alabama, in August 2023. The 10 Million Names team at American Ancestors has collaborated closely with ABC journalists to produce a series of compelling news segments that underscore the vital importance of recovering and restoring records of enslaved individuals—work that expands access to family history for African Americans and deepens understanding of the lives and legacies of their enslaved ancestors.
Several segments have featured prominent Black television anchors and reporters traveling on location to share profoundly personal journeys of discovery, tracing their family connections to slavery and illuminating the broader historical narrative through their ancestors’ lived experiences.
“Our partnership with ABC News has allowed us to put the results of 10 Million Names research in front of millions of Americans, and to show the incredible impact that tracing African American family history can have—not only for descendants and their families, but for all Americans. It is possible to find enslaved ancestors, and it’s imperative that we do so,” said Ryan Woods, President and CEO of American Ancestors.
In February 2024, ABC News aired “In Their Own Words,” a segment showcasing rare audio recordings of previously enslaved people being interviewed in the 20th century. In the piece, ABC reporter Alex Presha explored the context of the recordings with 10 Million Names scholars to learn more about how oral histories of Black Americans have been collected and preserved, in many cases within families. Presha also sat down with a descendant of one of the original interviewees for an emotional exchange.
After 10 Million Names researchers uncovered details about their respective family trees, news anchors Linsey Davis and Pierre Thomas both journeyed separately to the American South to tell stories about their ancestors in thought-provoking news pieces that reflected on the reasons for the gaps in African American family history.
In a segment that aired in May 2024, Davis sat down with 10 Million Names genealogist Kenyatta Berry to learn how her great-great-grandfather, Toby Murray, was one of the first Black men to register to vote after emancipation in Georgia in 1867, before Jim Crow laws would make voter registration all but impossible. Davis then traveled to the Georgia State archives to see the original registration document signed by her ancestor.
On August 6, 2024, ABC News Chief Justice Correspondent Pierre Thomas journeyed to the Jenkins Plantation in West Virginia, where his ancestor was enslaved in the 19th century. The plantation is situated so that his ancestor would have been able to look across the river to Ohio, a free state. Pierre then spoke with 10 Million Names scholar and Harvard University professor Vincent Brown about the brutalities his ancestor would have endured and the legacy of slavery.
10 Million Names is a collaborative project dedicated to recovering the names of the estimated 10 million men, women, and children of African descent who were enslaved in pre- and post-colonial America (specifically, the territory that would become the United States) between the 1500s and 1865. The project seeks to amplify the voices of people who have been telling their family stories for centuries, connect researchers and data partners with people seeking answers to family history questions, and expand access to data, resources, and information about enslaved African Americans. To learn more, visit 10millionnames.org.
About American Ancestors
American Ancestors® is a national nonprofit center for family history, heritage & culture based in Boston, Massachusetts, that has been setting the gold standard for genealogical research since its founding in 1845. Today, American Ancestors serves 400K+ members and subscribers through AmericanAncestors.org, one of the world’s largest online collections of family history resources. In 2025, American Ancestors launched the Family Heritage Experience. This interactive, state-of-the-art exhibition introduces visitors to the joy of family history research at 97 Newbury Street at our headquarters in Boston. American Ancestors is also home to the Wyner Family Jewish Heritage Center, which preserves New England’s Jewish history, and 10 Million Names, a project dedicated to finding the names of the enslaved men, women, and children in pre- and post-colonial America before emancipation. For more information, visit AmericanAncestors.org.
