Partnership centers family history in the larger conversation over who tells Black Louisianians’ stories
McGRATHPR.com – In a city that was once the largest slave market in the United States, the Urban League of Louisiana is joining forces with American Ancestors’ 10 Million Names initiative to help Black families recover the names and lives of ancestors who were enslaved. Judy Reese Morse, President and CEO of the Urban League of Louisiana, announced the partnership in her keynote address at the organization’s 2026 Empowerment & Policy Conference, praising 10 Million Names’ work to give Black communities greater access to their own family histories and inviting attendees to meet one-on-one with 10 Million Names genealogists on the exhibit floor.
“The Urban League of Louisiana is honored to partner with the 10 Million Names initiative to support and connect black families in Louisiana with their family histories,” said Morse. “ This groundbreaking collaboration will deepen the place of Black history, genealogy and heritage within the Urban League’s work of civil rights and racial and economic justice. For Black Louisiana families, 10 Million Names will strengthen the foundation upon which they stand today and build collective power for the future.”
“Knowing the names of our ancestors is part of knowing who we are. For millions of African Americans, slavery withheld that knowledge, and reclaiming it is work best done alongside the communities it belongs to. For decades, the Urban League of Louisiana has built opportunity for Black Louisianans, and we are grateful to Judy Reese Morse for bringing 10 Million Names into that work. Louisiana’s records preserve the names of many enslaved people. Together we can help families in Louisiana and across the country recover those names, restore them to their family histories, and remember the lives those names represent,” said Ryan J. Woods, president and CEO of American Ancestors.
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Louisiana holds a singular place in that work. In the decades before the Civil War, New Orleans was the hub of a domestic slave trade that forcibly moved hundreds of thousands of people into the Deep South, and countless African American families across the country trace their roots through the state. Louisiana’s archives are also unusually rich: under French and Spanish colonial rule, enslaved people were frequently recorded by name in church, notarial, and court records, documents that can help families today recover ancestors who might otherwise remain unnamed.
The partnership also reflects a shared conviction that knowing from where you came is part of shaping where you are going. The National Urban League was founded in 1910 to support Black Southerners building new lives during the Great Migration, a movement that scattered families and separated many from the records of their roots. 10 Million Names works to restore those connections, one name and one family at a time.
10 Million Names’ relationship with the Urban League began in June 2025 with an online program featuring the national Urban League’s President and CEO Marc Morial, whose illustrious family tree includes his father, Ernest Nathan “Dutch” Morial, the first Black mayor of New Orleans, and his mother Sybil Haydel Morial, a prominent civil rights activist, author, and educator. This year’s conference was held at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, named for Marc Morial’s father, a fitting setting for a conversation about family legacy.
The partnership’s work began on the conference floor. Throughout the afternoon of Thursday, October 15, professional genealogist and New Orleans native Jari Honora and 10 Million Names’ Research Director Lindsay Fulton provided free one-on-one consultations to conference goers, building on people’s knowledge of their own family stories and offering strategic advice for self-guided research that can lead to further discoveries.
The question of who controls a community’s history and stories was also at the center of the conference program. Morse and 10 Million Names Advisory Board member Paula Madison were joined by Kendra Taira Field, Chief Historian for 10 Million Names, and Historic New Orleans’ Jari Honora, as speakers on the roundtable, “Who Controls the Story Controls the Future.” The conversation explored who gets to tell Louisiana’s story, what has been left out, and how communities can claim the authority to speak on their own behalf.
Top left: Judy Reese Morse giving the opening speech at the 2026 Urban League of Louisiana Empowerment and Policy Conference
Top center: Dr. Christal M. Jackson accepting the gala honoree award at the 2026 Urban League of Louisiana Annual Gala
Top right: Dr. Christal M. Jackson and Judy Reese Morse at the 2026 Urban League of Louisiana Annual Gala
All photos: courtesy of the Urban League of Louisiana
Bottom left: Paula Williams Madison receiving the Louisiana Medal for Civil and Economic Rights at the 2026 Urban League of Louisiana Annual Gala
Bottom center: Paula Madison gives acceptance speech after receiving the Louisiana Medal for Civil and Economic Rights at the 2026 Urban League of Louisiana Annual Gala
Bottom right: Paula Madison and Judy Reese Morse at the 2026 Urban League of Louisiana Annual Gala
On Thursday, October 15, board advisors to American Ancestors’ 10 Million Names initiative were honored at the Urban League of Louisiana’s 2026 Empowerment & Policy Conference and annual gala, which focused on equity, innovation, and Black futures.
Paula Madison, Chairman and CEO of Madison Media Management LLC, and a retired 20+ year executive with NBCUniversal received the Urban League of Louisiana Medal for Civil and Economic Rights, while Dr. Christal M. Jackson, founder of Mosaic Genius and Head and Heart Philanthropy, social impact organizations focused on improving social, economic, and educational outcomes for communities of color, was a Gala Honoree.
Since its inception in 2023 at the National Association of Black Journalists convention in Birmingham, Alabama, 10 Million Names has grown exponentially, adding staff, partners, and expanding resources, including free public access to the names of enslaved men, women, and children of African descent. A partnership between the Urban League of Louisiana and 10 Million Names supports the launch of a 10 Million Names hub in New Orleans, allowing us the opportunity to deepen the place of Black history, genealogy, and heritage within the Urban League’s work of civil rights and racial and economic justice, and within the daily lives of Black Louisianans.
About 10 Million Names
10 Million Names is dedicated to recovering the names of the estimated ten 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. 10 Million Names is engaging a collaborative network of expert genealogists, cultural organizations, and community-based family historians. Together we will 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. For more information, visit 10millionnames.org.
About Urban League of Louisiana
The Urban League of Louisiana envisions a Louisiana in which a legacy of well-being and economic security passes from one generation to the next and where Black and other people of the global majority are living their full potential. Their mission is to build a Louisiana where Black and other people of the global majority have economic self-reliance, generational wealth, civil rights, and equitable representation. For more information, visit https://urbanleaguela.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, an interactive, state-of-the-art exhibition that introduces visitors to the joy of family history research, located 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.
