Judith Giesburg’s book, Last Seen: The Enduring Search by Formerly Enslaved People to Find Their Lost Families, is more than what the subtitle promises. Each chapter of this book centers on what the author and the Last Seen Project know about formerly enslaved people and their descendants who used newspaper advertisements but also discusses the lives of Black people before, during, and after the American Civil War. It is one of the best books I’ve read about the Reconstruction period because of its breadth and because of the author’s compassion for the people we may only know because of these advertisements. As of today, there are 4,719 ads in the Last Seen collection online. Their goal is 5,000. I will always wonder how many of these ads resulted in a reunion.
The last known advertisements seeking information about formerly enslaved people, Giesburg tells us, appeared as late as the 1920s. By that point, the advertisements were mostly written by the children and grandchildren of enslaved people. This isn’t that long ago; my grandmother was born in 1923. These advertisements included as much information as a seeker could afford: known name changes, locations, and the names of slave traders and owners. They mostly appeared in Black-owned newspapers and were often read in churches attended by formerly enslaved people, as well as freedmen and women. Seekers would hope that word would spread and, perhaps someday, they’d be able to reunite with their lost loved ones or at least learn a little more about their fates. Giesburg notes that, based on what the Project has collected so far, only about two percent of ads resulted in reunions. The following ad, from Public Opinion (Chambersburg, Pennsylvania), ran in August, 1870:
Each chapter begins with an advertisement, which Giesburg uses as a foundation to cover an astonishing amount of ground. She discusses the heart-rending practice of breaking up the families of enslaved people, along with the justifications slave owners used to make themselves feel better about separating children from parents and husbands from wives. She talks about the increasing violence that made it harder—and later impossible—for Black men to vote. (Women in general weren’t granted the right to vote until 1920, though Black men and women were routinely prevented from voting until the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.) This violence also pushed many formerly enslaved people to leave the American South entirely. Giesburg recounts many stories of how enslaved people gained freedom, either through the Underground Railroad or enlisting in (or being pressed into service by) the United States Colored Troops, etc. She dives into the emotional complications of people who remarried only to learn the whereabouts of their previous spouses. This summary is only the half of what Giesburg writes about in Last Seen.
Last Seen is a highly engaging book; I was utterly fascinated the entire way through. I very much appreciate the way that Giesburg constantly centered the people seeking their family and loved ones in these ads. She never lets us lose sight of the fact that the people who wrote and appeared in these ads were real people. Readers who enjoy nonfiction that focuses on the humanity of history will love this book.