African American Genealogy Workshop

One State/One Story Community Read: All That She Carried

Join us to learn about African American genealogy with presenters Eunice Trotter, director of The Black Heritage Preservation program, and local African American griot Verge "Brother Sage" Gillam.

Indiana Humanities’ One State / One Story program invites Hoosiers to engage deeply with a book as part of a statewide conversation tied to our current theme. During One State / One Story, we support communities in coming together to read and talk about this amazing work of historical inquiry.

Verge "Brother Sage" Gillam's long-standing interest in sharing his knowledge about African American history has impacted thousands. In 1990 in South Bend, he started a community-wide Kwanzaa celebration and the Black Man Think Tank. A sought-after lecturer on African American history, he has given presentations about the Underground Railroad and other topics at area elementary and high schools as well as colleges, universities, museums, and numerous other forums. Gillam served as the first social worker at the Tolsen Center in Elkhart, the executive director of the Urban League and the Equal Employment Opportunity officer for the Indiana Department of Transportation. He hosted “Providing Options” on WSBT radio and WSBT television and has mentored many young people through the years. He graduated from a Historically Black College and attended economic development training at an Ivy League university. Gillam is married to Charlotte Pfeifer, a community activist and a former South Bend Common Council member. Both sides of his family came to Michigan via the Underground Railroad.

Eunice Trotter is from a pioneer Black family with roots in Indiana dating back to the late 1790s. She attended public schools in Indianapolis and worked her way through college. She holds journalism undergraduate degrees and an MBA. She is former owner of The Indianapolis Recorder, which is one of the oldest African American newspapers in the country. She was the first African American editor at The Indianapolis Star and has held editing or reporting positions at several other newspapers, including The New York Post, Florida Today, the Palm Beach Post and the Lafayette Journal and Courier. She has won numerous reporting and writing awards and in 2017 was inducted into the Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame. She recently published her first book, “Black in Indiana,” which has received state and national first-place awards. She is now director of Indiana Landmark’s Black Heritage Preservation Program. Her job and her passion are to uncover, document and preserve Black heritage statewide.

Indiana Humanities’ One State / One Story program invites Hoosiers to engage deeply with a book as part of a statewide conversation tied to our current theme. During One State / One Story, we support communities in coming together to read and talk about this amazing work of historical inquiry.

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