Have you seen commercials for ancestry and other ways to find your family tree? Well, for African Americans, it's not always that easy.
Typically, records aren't necessarily kept for African Americans before 1870, but ABC10's Keristen Holmes found out it's not impossible and there is help.
"I can't really say 'Oh that evil slave owner, he did this that and the other, he's my great grandfather'", said Denise Griggs.
That's just a piece of the puzzle that Griggs found out when she went digging in her family's history. As a black woman, she thought she knew where the story would end, but she says, "Things are not always what it's said to be, or appears to be. We weren't enumerated by our names until 1870, but there are so many other avenues to look at."
Griggs is talking about the struggles black people face when trying to delve into their family's history. She said she got curious as a child, but that curiosity led to more than 40 years of research, and plenty of other information that took her entire family and her "new found family" by surprise.
"All I know is that he raised mom, [and] his daddy was the slave owner and he was a tanner. The oral history actually pointed me to the documents. The actual places where to go look. Sometimes at my own risk," said Griggs. "If the Mormon's hadn't recorded a lot of the information, we would have never have gotten it."
It's a labor of love with a team that spans history and the entire nation, including The Buffalo Soldiers. Bernard Ivey will help facilitate a session on The Buffalo Soldiers at the event.
"There are records that are available that may not be available regarding the average citizen," said Ivey. "Where they came from, what year they were born, where they were discharged, and you could use those records to go back even further from on point of reference to another."
Sharon Styles, Co-Chair for the African American Family History Seminar, says if people are curious about learning their history, then there's hope.
"Most people can get themselves from the present to 1870, but 1870 is when you have to work harder," said Styles. "The tools that we teach people are how to find those records and how to find their ancestors. So it's not easy, but it can be done."
Griggs says what she learned sent shockwaves as far away as Ireland.
"Some of my white cousins, fourth and fifth cousins are stunned to find out that they have black DNA. You really need to know that and not get offended because we're all mixed," said Griggs.
The African American Genealogical Seminar will teach those tools to help people find more leaves on your family's tree during a seminar.
It'll be hosted in Sacramento at the Family Search Library on 2745 Eastern Avenue. The event is Saturday from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. and if you want more information you can go to their website, click here.