Publications

Books

• NGS Research in the States Series: Alabama, NGS Special Publication 136. Falls Church, Virginia: National Genealogical Society, 2021. Available at https://www.ngsgenealogy.org/ris/alabama/
• A Guide to Researching African American Ancestors in Laurens County, South Carolina, and Selected Finding Aids. Bloomington, Indiana: Xlibris, 2016.
• The Source : the Garrett, Neely, and Sullivan families : over two hundred years of African American history, beginning in Laurens County, South Carolina : 2010 supplement. Salt Lake City: Family Heritage Publishers, 2010.
• The Source : the Garrett, Neely, and Sullivan families : over two hundred years of African American history, beginning in Laurens County, South Carolina. Salt Lake City: Family Heritage Publishers, 2008.
• The Source of our Pride : the Garrett, Neely, and Sullivan families : two hundred years of African American history, beginning in Laurens County, South Carolina. San Jose: Family Tree Press, 2000.

I served as the editor and principal writer of two Church histories that document the involvement of families that organized them:

• Macedonia Baptist Church 1920-2011: a History of the Little Church on the Hill. Bethesda, Maryland: Macedonia Baptist Church, 2011.
• Historical book of Bethel Hall Missionary Baptist Church. Laurens, South Carolina: the Centennial 1910-2010. Laurens, South Carolina: Bethel Hall Missionary Baptist Church, 2010.

Articles

• “The Value of Transcribing Handwritten Records,” NGS Magazine 50 (July–August 2024): 23–27.
• “Four Families of St. Mary’s County: Butler, Gough, Shubrooks, Lee,” The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 177 (Winter 2023): 95. (Book Review)
• “North Carolina’s Free People of Color, 1715–1885,” National Genealogical Society Quarterly 110 (June 2022): 148-149. (Book Review)
• “Gleaning Information About Enslaved Ancestors From Probate Files.” NGS Magazine 48 (April–June 2022): 20–24.
• “The Black Church: This is Our Story, This is Our Song.” National Genealogical Society Quarterly 109 (June 2021): 156. (Book Review).
• “Parents for Isaac Garrett of Laurens County, South Carolina: DNA Corroborates Oral Tradition.”​ National Genealogical Society Quarterly, 108 (June 2020): 85-112. NGSQ Award of Excellence, 2020
• “There is Something about Edgefield: Shining a Light in the Black Community through History, Genealogy & Genetic DNA.” National Genealogical Society Quarterly 107 (June 2019): 150. (Book Review)
• “The Freedman Richard Neely: One Family’s American Beginning.” Journal of the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society 34 (2017): 62.
• “Genealogy Ethics and the Call For Diversity,” OnBoard, the newsletter of the Board for Certification of Genealogists. January 2017.
• “The Social Life of DNA: Race, Reparations, and Reconciliation After the Genome.” National Genealogical Society Quarterly 104 (December 2016): 311. (Book Review)
• “Resolving a Modern Genealogical Problem: What was Rainey Nelson’s Birth Name?” National Genealogical Society Quarterly 104 (September 2016): 203-213.
• “Some Thoughts on the Process that Resulted in my Successful Application for BCG’s Certified Genealogist(R) Credential: My Genealogical Education” Journal of the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society 37 (2016): 33-36.
• “Diverse Communities: Researching African American Families that Came Out of Slavery.” BCG Springboard (blog), 5 January 5, 2016. https://bcgcertification.org/researching-african-american-families-that-came-out-of-slavery/
• “Bethel Hall Missionary Baptist Church Cemetery.” The Tree Climber, Laurens District Chapter, South Carolina Genealogical Society 29 (Winter 2014): 42.
• “Searching for the Slave Owners of Isaac Garrett: Expanding Research Beyond Online Sources.” Columns, the quarterly publication of the International Society of Family History Writers and Editors. June 2014.