ABOUT THE THF INSTITUTE
The Turner-Hines-Franklin Institute is a growing community & global research center dedicated to the integration of scholarship and data related to the history of slavery and its legacies with the ethical and equitable engagement of descendants of enslaved ancestors.
DEFINING OUR TERMS: SLAVERY’S DATA & DESCENDANT ENGAGEMENT
When we refer to “slavery’s data,” we are referencing data produced from primary sources from slavery. Examples of slavery’s data include Oceans of Kinfolk, Louisiana Kindred, Named in Affectionate Terms, and Freedom on the Move (all described here).
“Descendant engagement” refers to collaboratively centering the voices of descendants of enslaved ancestors on behalf of inclusive narratives about the past and its living legacies.
How does the Turner-Hines-Franklin Institute define “descendant?”
Like Kinfolkology, the Turner-Hines-Franklin Institute uses the term “Descendant” to refer to individuals with ancestors whose names appear in Oceans of Kinfolk, Freedom on the Move, and other historic databases as well as those who are simply connected to enslaved ancestors through memory and kinship, whether or not they know those ancestors’ names.
The Turner-Hines-Franklin Institute is committed to structural parity with Descendant communities.
Structural parity is a model of shared organizational authority or governance developed by the Montpelier Descendants Committee and adopted by Kinfolkology. When structural parity is in place, descendants of enslaved ancestors are represented and empowered at every level of an organization.