{"id":1918,"date":"2019-11-26T19:10:29","date_gmt":"2019-11-26T19:10:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/2019\/11\/26\/the-1619-project-tracing-steps-backwards-to-find-a-way-forward\/"},"modified":"2025-03-19T18:51:30","modified_gmt":"2025-03-19T18:51:30","slug":"the-1619-project-tracing-steps-backwards-to-find-a-way-forward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/2019\/11\/26\/the-1619-project-tracing-steps-backwards-to-find-a-way-forward\/","title":{"rendered":"The 1619 project: Tracing steps backwards to find a way forward"},"content":{"rendered":" \n
\n
\n \n

Four centuries ago this year, a privateer named the White Lion anchored off Point Comfort, an English colony in what is now Hampton, Virginia. In its cramped hold, it carried 20 or so human beings kidnapped from an ancient kingdom in Africa by Portuguese slave traders who sold them to the colonists for supplies.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

\n
\n \n\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
\n
\n \n

Among the survivors of this voyage were Anthony and Isabella, who would become the parents of William, the first recorded named birth of an African in America. Six years later, a census showed the family as residing with a Capt. William Tucker at the start of chattel slavery that is this nation\u2019s ugliest heritage.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

\n
\n \n\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
\n
\n \n

The specifics of that history were unknown to most Americans over the years since, or changed so completely as to become a lie that some still believe. But not to Wanda Tucker, a scholar and administrator at  Rio Salado College in Tempe, Arizona. She grew up with that as her family’s origin story, and has long wanted to prove that they they are direct descendants of William, a legacy that is \u201ca family treasure, handed down from generation to generation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

\n
\n \n\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
\n
\n \n

Now, as major U.S. news organizations offered special coverage of the 400th anniversary of slavery’s American roots, Tucker got her chance.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

\n
\n \n\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
\n
\n \n

Accompanied by a reporting team from USA Today, Tucker, 61, traveled to Angola in search of her ancestry. Her quest was chronicled in August in \u201c1619: Searching for Answers: The long road home<\/a>,\u201d a heartwrenching narrative co-written by award-winning journalist Deborah Barfield Berry<\/a>, a Washington reporter for the USA Today, and Kelley Benham French, an award-winning writer, editor and teacher<\/a> who is a senior editor of narrative and special projects at the news organization.  (During her reporting, Berry discovered that she and Tucker might share a bloodline<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

\n
\n \n\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
\n
\n \n

The story joins a new canon of stories marking the 400th anniversary of the arrival of enslaved Africans to the colonies that would become the United States, perhaps most notably the “1619” package by the New York Times<\/a>, anchored by a searing essay by Nikole Hannah-Jones<\/a>. What sets the USA Today narrative apart, Berry believes, \u201cis that we traveled to Angola where the ships came from to tell that unique story. We also chose to tell it through the experience of an African American woman who believes she is a descendant. We hope it offered readers a different view of how that history can be told.\u201d<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

\n
\n \n\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
\n
\n \n

The story achieves with an inspired structure that weaves Tucker\u2019s emotional travels through Angola into a larger landscape, buttressed by historical accounts, of the shameful history of what happened to Africans torn from their homeland, pressed into slavery and transported, in horrific conditions, across the ocean to America.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

\n
\n \n\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
\n
\n \n
<\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
\n
\n \n\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
\n
\n \n

The story of Tucker\u2019s search begins as she steps off a plane \u2014 \u201cto a sky so gray it blended into the tarmac\u201d \u2014 in the capital city of Luanda. Berry and French stand to the side furiously noting each move and reaction in their notepads while videographer and photojournalist Jarrad Henderson builds a visual account. Together, they gather exquisite details that bring the reader along as Tucker first encounters Africa from the windows of a van with a \u201ccracked windshield and a broken door.\u201d From the story:<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

\n
\n \n\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
\n
\n \n
\n
\n
\n \n

Low adobe huts blurred past, roofs held down by concrete blocks. Then came peeling high-rises with rusty air conditioners. Wash lines with colorful clothes hung from balconies. The city bustled with people, but few of them seemed in a hurry. Children headed to class in white uniforms. On the sidewalks, people prayed, bounced babies, grilled yams, crammed bus stops, peed against walls, braided hair, carried strings of fish.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

\n
\n \n\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
\n
\n \n

After a nut section that puts Tucker’s journey in historical perspective, the story segues into what French called a series of \u201cmust-have scenes,\u201d as Tucker stands in a slave trader\u2019s house in the National Museum of Slavery in the Angolan capital, within earshot of the ocean that carried her ancestors to America. On the walls are shackles small enough to bind a child\u2019s wrist.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

\n
\n \n\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
\n
\n \n
<\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
\n
\n \n\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
\n
\n \n

Initially, a trip to Angola was envisioned as a kicker to a larger story about the Tucker family<\/a>. Until then, the story had compelling characters, but what it lacked, French says, was a narrative arc. The 10-day reporting trip to \u201cdusty, mysterious\u201d Angola changed that as the team followed Tucker on an odyssey to discover her roots. Throughout, the point-of-view is Tucker’s, elicited by constant questions from the writers and from Henderson, who showed Tucker videos to draw out her inner thoughts.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

\n
\n \n\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
\n
\n \n

French provides insight into the reporting process in a page from her notebook:<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

\n
\n \n\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
\n
\n \n
\n
\n
\n \n

Blowing + breathing. Wiping a tear. Plane hissing. Low scrub. Dull, hazy sky. Everything same color. Biting her lip. Eyes out window. Flat horizon. Wiping one eye then another. Even if this isn\u2019t the right place, the hole in her is the size of this continent. Everything in Luanda is missing a piece of itself. Every roof has a hole in it. Sit now. Look at camera. Ok. How long this is coming. Sweep back. \u201cIt\u2019s been a long journey.\u201d LONG WAY HOME.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

\n
\n \n\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
\n
\n \n

With remarkable economy and indelible imagery, the store evokes the sights and sounds of an impoverished nation clinging to its heartbreaking history. At a Catholic church, Tucker drinks \u201ccloudy palm wine\u201d and examines a centuries-old history of the kingdoms of Congo, Mamba and Angola. The team travels 200 miles with her into the interior, to the Ndongo Kingdom, locus of the Portuguese slave trade, dodging \u201ccrater-sized potholes\u201d as they pass a countryside still marred by land mines from 25 years of civil war that ended in 2002.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

\n
\n \n\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
\n
\n \n

Tucker visits the village where Anthony and Isabella might have lived, the fort where they would have been penned and branded, the mountains where they might have tried to flee. In the villages she met village elders who told her that the word for ocean in their tongue \u2014 kalunga \u2014 <\/em>means death, a place of no return.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

\n
\n \n\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
\n
\n \n

\u201cNothing she had learned had made the link between her family and the Angolans on board that ship in 1619 more legitimate on paper\u201d Berry and Benham write. \u201cBut now she could hear the ancestors speak and have faith in where they were leading her.\u201d<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

\n
\n \n\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
\n
\n \n

Tucker\u2019s journey home ends on an expected joyous note in the village of Mufuma as she watches a group of villagers dancing. \u201cAw, what the heck,\u201d she says, and joins them, shimmying to the sounds of the marimba.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

\n
\n \n\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
\n
\n \n

Berry and French answered questions about the origins of the story, the challenges of the reporting trip, the structure of the narrative, and the key to their teamwork. A full annotation of the story follows our Q&A, which has been edited for length and clarity.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

\n
\n \n\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
\n
\n \n
<\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
\n
\n \n\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
\n
\n \n
\"\"
USAToday reporter Deborah Barfield Berry with Wanda Tucker Amaya Berry<\/small><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
\n
\n \n\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
\n
\n \n

What\u2019s the origin of “Searching for Answers?”
<\/strong>Deborah Barfield Berry<\/strong>: We were working on a story, with reporter Rick Hampson<\/a>, about members of the Tucker family<\/a>, who believe they are descendants of the first Africans brought to the English colony on a ship from Angola in 1619. There had been some talk about possibly going to Angola as part of the story, but it hadn\u2019t been decided. Then discussions turned to how much better the Tucker family story could be with that trip. We got to know Wanda as we reported on the Tucker story. She had taken on the role as the family historian, so we had a lot of contact with her. Rick and I met her face-to-face for the first time in June at the Tucker family cemetery.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

\n
\n \n\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
\n
\n \n

Why did she agree to let a team follow her during her time in Angola?
<\/strong>Berry: <\/strong>It took awhile for Wanda to feel comfortable with the media focus. But once we got to know her and she got to know us \u2014 especially during a visit with her family in Hampton \u2014 I think she trusted that we would tell her story the best way we could. And most of all, we would be fair. Tens of thousands of people read the story. I was nervous about one reader in particular – Wanda.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

\n
\n \n\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
\n
\n \n

What was the biggest reporting challenge?
<\/strong>Kelley Benham French: <\/strong>Before we decided to go to Angola, the story was missing action. We had characters \u2014 this family in Virginia who held tight to this identity \u2014 but there wasn\u2019t much in the present to chronicle, and they didn\u2019t have many family stories we could retell. Once we decided to take Wanda (Tucker) to Angola, we had a clear narrative arc. The reporting challenges at that point became logistical. We were on an impossibly tight schedule working in a very difficult country. We waited days in Angola for visas and press credentials as the lights flickered on and off and the computer systems shut down. We traveled for days on blasted-out roads, with two translators and a driver. We had to court government and village officials everywhere we went, and everything took twice as long as we expected. It was a physically difficult trip. Just staying healthy was a challenge.
Berry: <\/strong>We didn\u2019t have access to the usual press secretaries or press offices. There were so many hoops to jump through to get basic information and access.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

\n
\n \n\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
\n
\n \n

What was the biggest structural challenge?
<\/strong>Berry: <\/strong>Deciding to write in sections that could stand alone but offer enough historical information and color that was digestible to readers. We overcame it by not overloading sections with history, but trying to weave it in.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

\n
\n \n\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
\n
\n \n

How did you arrive at that structure?
<\/strong>Berry: <\/strong> We talked a lot about what would be in the story and how it would best be told. Writing in sections seemed to be the best route.
French: <\/strong>We tried to map it out on the airplane, in the airport, on the bus. We both had ancient laptops that would hold power for about 45 minutes. I did a lot of sketching on paper. Deb was set on starting with Wanda getting off the plane, because that image was so embedded in us emotionally. We needed a nut section next. Then we went through our must-have scenes, blocked them out, and blended the rest into montage pieces that helped us move from scene to scene. I like to make sure every section has a theme, serves one idea. We never questioned the ending. We felt sure the  story would end with Wanda dancing.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

\n
\n \n\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
\n
\n \n

What were the greatest challenges of producing a story together?
<\/strong>Berry: <\/strong>Meshing different styles, voices and views. I think one thing that helped was we tended to capture the same details and color. We often agreed about the important elements to include in the story. We compromised on language, scenes, tone. I respected Kelley’s expertise with narrative writing and I think she respected my experience as a reporter and writer.
French: <\/strong>I think we were paired up in part because we come from different traditions. But Deb\u2019s generosity and sense of humor made working together pretty easy for me. It\u2019s true, we were cosmically connected when reporting \u2014 always homing in on the same details. When we were writing, there was a lot of give-and-take. Deb\u2019s seriousness and purpose were inspiring.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

\n
\n \n\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
\n
\n \n

The story comes in at about 4,500 words, yet the prose is noteworthy for its economy. Was it a challenge to limit the story of Wanda Tucker\u2019s journey and background, the history of the slave trade and Angola?
<\/strong>Berry: <\/strong>Yep. We left a whole lot in our notebooks.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

\n
\n \n\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
\n
\n \n

What was the emotional impact of accompanying Wanda?
<\/strong>Berry: <\/strong>It was extremely emotional, particularly as an African American visiting the Motherland for a story about slavery. I had made my own pilgrimage to Ghana, Senegal and the Ivory Coast 20 years ago, but even as an observer, a journalist, there is no way to turn off the pain of standing in a slave trader\u2019s house and in the \u201cDoor of No Return.\u201d<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

\n
\n \n\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
\n
\n \n
\"\"
Kelley Benham French and Wanda Tucker touring an Angola village with Custodio Armando, a province official Deborah Barfield Berry<\/small><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
\n
\n \n\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
\n
\n \n

Was it difficult to keep yourselves out of the story since you were sharing such an intimate, emotional experience?
<\/strong>Berry: <\/strong>At times it was difficult, particularly while reporting in Angola. We were with each other pretty much 24\/7. But we are journalists, so when we sat down to write and edit we focused on telling Wanda\u2019s story.
French: <\/strong>I could tell that the rest of the team \u2014 all of whom were African American \u2014 were having to sacrifice some of the personal experience they would love to have had in order to focus on Wanda\u2019s story. We worked such crazy hours that we didn\u2019t have time to mail a postcard or buy a souvenir. We were also five people following around one woman, so we were naturally interacting with her at all times. We could not just be completely out of the story or she would have felt abandoned and alone in a strange country. We are in half of Jarrad\u2019s photos, on the edges of the frame. We\u2019re in the video he produced, following Wanda around. When we drafted, we\u2019d move to another section of the bus so Wanda couldn\u2019t hear us. But if we had a question, all we had to do was shout and she\u2019d answer it.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

\n
\n \n\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
\n
\n \n

Given all the 1619 coverage from multiple news outlets this past year, why did USA Today choose this one as their big presence?
<\/strong>French: <\/strong>The legendary Gene Roberts, a professor and mentor of mine, tells his reporters to zag when everyone else zigs. The best way for our small team to contribute meaningfully on this sprawling story was to zag. So we zagged 7,000 miles across the ocean to the source of the story, and tethered ourselves to a thoughtful, rational, insightful character who had a lot at stake.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

\n
\n \n\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
\n
\n \n

Th<\/strong>e annotation:<\/strong>Storyboard\u2019s questions are in red; responses from Berry and French in blue. To read the story without annotations, click the \u2018Hide all annotations\u2019 button, which you\u2019ll find just below the social media buttons in the top right-hand menu, or at the top of your mobile scr<\/em>een.<\/em><\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

\n
\n \n\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
\n
\n \n

1619: SEARCHING FOR ANSWERS<\/h3>\n

The long road home<\/h2>\nDeborah Barfield Berry and Kelley Benham French, USA TODAY<\/strong>
\n
\nUpdated 6:12 p.m. EDT Sep. 10, 2019
\n
\nLUANDA, Angola \u2013 Wanda Tucker stepped off the plane to a sky so gray it blended into the tarmac. <\/a>How did you decide on this entry point for the story?<\/span>Berry: <\/strong>We both felt strongly early on that this arrival was important to Wanda \u2014 emotional, overwhelming. We wanted readers to join her on the trip.<\/span><\/span> <\/a>The image of the sky is magical. Did that occur to you when you got off the plane or during composition of the story?<\/span>Berry: <\/strong>We both vividly recalled that scene when we stepped off the plane. It was one of the first scenes that stuck in my head.<\/span><\/span>
\n
\nShe inhaled, balanced her new bag with the straw handle, then step-by-step-by-step made her way down the metal stairs. <\/a>Did you rely on any of the video or photographs taken by your colleagues to document scenes and narrative moments in the story?<\/span>Berry: <\/strong>Most scenes came from our own observations and notes scribbled in notebooks and whatever else was available. Wanda did a nightly video blog with Jarrad Henderson. We sat in on those interviews and also asked questions. Nichelle Smith, another member of the team, joined us. In addition to interviews on the bus, at the sites and in hotel lobbies, we also used material from the video blog interviews.<\/span><\/span>
\n
\nIt had been 40 hours since she left Virginia. Her 61 years had caught up. Something about flying over that wide, dark water, watching the low tin roofs rise to meet her, had brought home the reality of what she had come here to do. <\/a>How do you know that flying over the ocean \u201chad brought home the reality of what she had come to do?\u201d<\/span>Berry: <\/strong>Kelley asked her.<\/span><\/span>
\n
\nThe plane hissed. <\/a>How did you settle on \u2018hissed?\u201d which is very evocative? Did you consider other verbs?<\/span>French: <\/strong>I just thought of that verb when I was standing on the tarmac and heard the plane hiss in the background. I jotted it in my notebook. It was edited in and out and back in several times. Ultimately it stayed in for rhythm.<\/span><\/span> The faces around her were brown like hers, but their words were a scramble of sound.
\n
\nShe boarded the shuttle bus and plopped on a seat, nervously tapping her knee with her left hand. At first she brushed away the tears, then ignored them. It was hard to breathe. <\/a>The point-of-view is totally Wanda Tucker\u2019s. What kind of reporting made it possible to support it?<\/span>French: <\/strong>We asked her. It\u2019s so simple just to ask people what they were feeling. To jog her memory, photojournalist Jarrad Henderson showed Wanda video he\u2019d taken of her getting off the plane. Then he asked her to talk him through what she saw and felt and thought. Jarrad is a brilliant interviewer, and that move was one I\u2019ll be sure to use in the future. He tells me it\u2019s called \u201cphoto\/video elicitation.\u201d Whatever. It was masterful. Wanda told us, \u201cIt was hard to breathe.\u201d Later, she noted the same feeling in her journal.<\/span><\/span> <\/a>You\u2019re watching her closely, aren\u2019t you? Are all these details going into your notebooks?<\/span>French: <\/strong>Four people were watching her intently. So the notes are a mix of detail, observation, quotes, impressions, thoughts. Berry: <\/strong>I kept my notebook and pen close, real close. I watched her intently, especially when we landed. I hurried off the plane and down the steps so I could watch her slowly descend. I watched and scribbled, watched and scribbled. I captured quotes. Sometimes to remain in the moment I just took mental notes and jotted down color later. I later worked hard to describe how Wanda looked when she stood in the door of the plane, how she juggled her new straw bag, how she wore a beige African print tunic, how her straw hat had survived the 40-hour trip. All that was in one of the early drafts. It didn\u2019t make the final cut. Sigh. But it made sense to get into the story more quickly and more to the point.<\/span><\/span> <\/a>What role did editors play?<\/span>Berry:<\/strong> Kristen Go, the project editor, was heavily involved in the framing of the story and particularly as we line edited. Kelley, who was also the narrative editor, was a co-writer. Nichelle Smith, an editor who was also on the trip working on a related story, was our in-house historian. We turned to her to fact-check, confirm spellings and toss around ideas. She was also key to setting up the itinerary.<\/span><\/span>
\n
\nWanda and her family believed they were descended from the first Africans brought to the English colonies 400 years <\/a>ago this month. They hadn\u2019t proved it, but they didn\u2019t doubt it. Now here she was, in the place those ancestors had called home: dusty, mysterious Angola.
\n
\nShe would walk the roads they walked by the rivers they fished under the stars that guided them. She would confront, as courageously as she could, the reality of what happened to them and those left behind. <\/a>The repetition of \u201cshe would\u201d has a strong rhythm. What was the reasoning behind the device?<\/span>French: <\/strong>It wasn\u2019t conscious, but repetition can be really pleasing; I think here it helps to build momentum.<\/span><\/span> <\/a>Is that passage intended to foreshadow what\u2019s to come? Why place it here?<\/span>French: <\/strong>We are taking people on a long journey, and as they are deciding whether to commit to reading this whole thing, we want to convey that we know where we\u2019re going and that the reader is in good hands. Also by using the word \u201ccourageously,\u201d we are ratcheting up the tension and stakes.<\/span><\/span>
\n
\nWanda believed her ancestors had called her here. But sometimes she found it hard to listen, and she didn\u2019t hear them now. <\/a>You interrupt the scene here? Why? Is this the nut graf?<\/span>French: <\/strong>I don\u2019t think this is the nut graph. I think the nut graph comes in the next section. But I don\u2019t want to go any longer than I have to without giving the reader some idea of what this is about. So sticking some ancestors up high is like planting a clue. Those ancestors are also going to speak to Wanda again later, so we\u2019re setting up that thread.<\/span><\/span>
\n
\nShe had come so far and felt so alone. She said aloud, \u201cCould somebody give me a hug?\u201d <\/a>Who was she talking to?<\/span>French: <\/strong>She was talking to our team at USA Today. Berry: <\/strong>And to whoever was listening.<\/span><\/span>\n

1619<\/h3>\n\n<\/a>What role does this section play?<\/span>French: <\/strong>This is the nut section. We need to lay plain Wanda\u2019s connection to Angola, and say why her story matters. We need to make clear that the story is not just hers, but part of a much larger American story. This is the section where we need to really ring the bell at the top of the ladder of abstraction.<\/span><\/span>
\n
\nWanda would tell everyone she met in Angola she was descended from the first Africans brought to the English colonies<\/a>. The story was a family treasure, handed down from generation to generation. It\u2019s a story that Wanda and others had worked to bolster over the years despite a vacuum of evidence, as records for African Americans from that period barely exist. Their names were lost to burned churches, unmarked graves and to a government that didn\u2019t count them as human.
\n
\nLike any family heirloom, the rough edges have been worn smooth by the passing years, so the story in Wanda’s family invokes a deep sense of pride whether it is provable or not. <\/a>Is the story provable?<\/span>French: <\/strong>Not with the records we have on hand at this moment, but that doesn\u2019t mean it won\u2019t become provable someday. There is strong circumstantial evidence. The language here was really important, because we didn\u2019t want to cast her as someone operating against<\/em> available evidence.<\/span><\/span>
\n
\nWhat\u2019s known is that in 1619, two Angolans named Anthony and Isabella, along with 20 or so others, staggered off a ship into Point Comfort in what is now Hampton, Virginia. <\/a>What are the sources of his powerful history?<\/span>Berry: <\/strong>The history of the ship\u2019s arrival is well known and documented. But we also interviewed historians in Hampton and at the National Museum of African American History and Culture and others.<\/span><\/span> <\/a>How can you say they \u201cstaggered?\u201d<\/span>French: <\/strong>Deb fought me on that one. Maybe it\u2019s a reach. I just can\u2019t imagine a universe where they didn\u2019t stagger. If I spend six hours on a canoe, I\u2019m staggering off. They were underfed, probably sick, and had spent months growing accustomed to the motion of the sea. Does anyone think they just strode off the boat? Anyway, we had many conversations about it.<\/span><\/span> They\u2019d been taken from the Ndongo kingdom in the interior of Angola and marched to the coast. They’d endured months packed in the bottom of a ship named the San Juan Bautista. When raiders attacked in the Gulf of Mexico, the captives were rerouted to Virginia aboard the White Lion, changing the course of a nation. <\/a>This is so dramatic. Did you rely on more than one source to tell the story of Anthony and Isabella? How did you verify it?<\/span>French<\/strong>: The story of Anthony and Isabella has been pieced together by multiple historians. It\u2019s a narrative inconvenience that the captives got rerouted and loaded off of one ship and onto another. That made writing these background paragraphs always a bit of a dance. They also weren\u2019t the \u201cfirst slaves in America\u201d because there were slaves in Florida and other parts of what would become the United States. They were first in the English colonies. And maybe they became indentured servants, not slaves. We don\u2019t really know.<\/span><\/span> <\/a>Did it require a lot of revision to boil it down to this one paragraph from \u201cWhat\u2019s known\u201d to \u201ca nation?\u201d<\/span>French: <\/strong>We wrote another whole story about the history, so we felt freer here to just hit the highlights. But yes, the paragraph was revised many, many times. Probably a dozen times. And yes, we interviewed local and national historians to confirm the information as well as the director of the National Slave Museum in Angola. We also interviewed officials and leaders in villages and provinces in Angola.<\/span><\/span>
\n
\nAnthony and Isabella probably weren\u2019t their real names. Their Angolan names were likely subbed out by whichever Catholic priest baptized them for the journey. <\/a>I wondered about that? How do you know about their naming? In places like this, attribution is missing. Why?<\/span>French: <\/strong>We didn\u2019t witness it, so we have to use the word likely, but we asked this question of the director of the slave museum in Angola and of probably every other expert on the trip. At some point, Angolans would have commonly taken Portuguese names when they were voluntarily baptized, but in 1619, in the interior of the country where Antony and Isabella lived, that would not have been likely at all. It would have been nuts to try to gunk up this section with attribution. This is a forceful, hopefully lyrical section staking our claim to all of the big ideas in the piece. It\u2019s not a place for \u201cthe professor said.\u201d Other pieces in this package delve deeper into all the mechanics of what happened. And I think we have enough experts in this story to prove to the reader we aren\u2019t just making this stuff up.<\/span><\/span>
\n
\nThe reason they are remembered and other Africans are not is the anomaly that someone bothered to record their names at all. <\/a>\u201cAnomaly\u201d is the perfect word to describe what happened to them? Did you search for that word?<\/span>French: <\/strong>It just came to me. This whole section came to me on an airplane, where I was without wifi for a couple of hours. Having that forced period of solitude and quiet allowed me to step back and say, you know, I don\u2019t think we\u2019ve hit the Big Idea hard enough. I wanted to go at it more forcefully. My laptop was dead so I was writing with pen and paper. I often encourage students to free-write on the major themes in their stories, and I was certainly following that advice here. Then I took some of what I\u2019d come up with to Deb when we were together again and we took it from there together.<\/span><\/span> A 1625 census noted that they belonged to the household of Capt. William Tucker and that they had a child named William. <\/a>Did you see the census? Where did you find it?<\/span>Berry: <\/strong>Our colleague Rick Hampson had reported some of this material, including Census info. And I interviewed a historian at the Hampton museum who showed me copies of documents and verified other details.<\/span><\/span> Wanda and her family believe they are descended from William, the first named African born in what would become America. An American forefather most history ignores. <\/a>You qualify William\u2019s birth with \u201cnamed.\u201d Why?<\/span>French: <\/strong>There was one other child noted in the census, but that child was not named in the census.<\/span><\/span>
\n
\nThe arrival of the first Africans in the fledgling English colony foreshadowed a prosperity unfathomable without the forced labor of hundreds of thousands who would follow. Chattel slavery launched the longest, ugliest, most shameful <\/a>period in American history.
\n
\nIt sought to erase the identity and culture of 400,000 people taken from Africa<\/a>. It left their millions of descendants with a history they can never fully know.
\n
\n<\/a>Why are you relying on links in the previous two paragraphs?<\/span>French: <\/strong>Personally, I hate the links. Why invite people to leave your story? But it does take care of some attribution. It shows we\u2019ve written about this stuff before in other places and you can go read more about it. And there are probably reasons for linking to things that have to do with audience and metrics and clicks and so forth.<\/span><\/span>
\n
\nSo when Wanda Tucker traveled 7,000 miles to a country no one she knew had ever been, she did so on the faith of her connection to Anthony and Isabella. <\/a>How much of the story of Wanda Tucker\u2019s ancestors was discovered in Angola?<\/span>Berry: <\/strong>There were no major discoveries linking Wanda to ancestors in Angola. But there were remarkable and emotional discoveries about the lives of people who once lived there and ended up in the English colony. Wanda claimed those ancestors.<\/span><\/span> <\/a>Can you describe the reporting done before the team left for Africa?<\/span>Berry: <\/strong>We spent weeks reporting on the story of the Tucker family, interviewing members in Hampton, Baltimore and New York. We also went to the county courthouse to look over documents. We visited the family cemetery in Hampton several times. We interviewed historians in Hampton, at the National Museum of African American History and Culture and others. We also met with officials at the Embassy of Angola in Washington. We reached out to Embassy officials and other government officials in Angola.<\/span><\/span>
\n
\nBut she was also doing it for the millions of African-Americans who don\u2019t have the name of an ancestor to claim.
\n
\nWhen the plane landed, the void she felt was bigger than any one ancestor, any one tribe. It was an entire people missing its past. <\/a>You bring the arrival to a close here. Why?<\/span>French: <\/strong>Without it, it\u2019s been too long since we reminded people that there\u2019s this woman named Wanda and you\u2019re about to read another 3,000 words about her.<\/span><\/span>\n

History lessons<\/h3>\n\nWanda learned about slavery in a freshly desegregated seventh-grade classroom. The textbook, \u201cVirginia: History, Government, Geography,\u201d published in 1957, featured Robert E. Lee on the back cover and described 1619 as \u201can eventful year.\u201d
\n
\n\u201cSlavery was in many ways a harsh and cruel system,\u201d the book read. \u201cBut slavery made it possible for the Negroes to come to America and to make contacts with civilized life.\u201d <\/a>How do you know the textbook was hers? Does she still have it?<\/span>French: <\/strong>Wanda didn\u2019t remember the name of the teacher or a lot of the details you\u2019d love to have as a narrative writer. Putting together the scene was tough. She didn\u2019t know the name of the textbook and it was the teacher, not the book, that was the subject of the painful memory. But since we couldn\u2019t put a face on the teacher, I started wondering what the textbook had said. I asked reporter Rick Hampson to try to find out what textbook Wanda\u2019s school would have been using in 1971. Within a couple of days he had found not only the title, but a used copy for sale online for $100. We verified that the entire school system used this particular book in the 7th grade. When the book arrived, it was richer than I had dared hope. It makes clear that this one teacher\u2019s perspective was not personal; it was institutional.<\/span><\/span>
\n
\nMost slaves were treated with kindness, it said. Black and white children played together in creeks. Sometimes slaves were whipped, but whipping was a common punishment at the time. Masters took care of their slaves like they took care of their own children, the book said.
\n
\n\u201cThe regard that master and slave had for each other made life happy and prosperous.” <\/a>How did you decide what to excerpt from the book?<\/span>French: <\/strong>We had many, many passages to choose from. We used the ones that most closely aligned with the message that Wanda remembered her teacher espousing in class.<\/span><\/span>
\n
\nThat the teacher would sanction and amplify these notions did not sit well with Wanda.
\n
\n\u201cFrom her perspective, slaves didn\u2019t deserve any better,\u201d Wanda recalled. \u201cThey had been rescued.\u201d
\n
\nWhen Wanda objected, she was sent to stand in the hallway.
\n
\nLater, when a white classmate told her that \u201cGod cursed black people,\u201d Wanda slugged her \u2014 a right hook. Both girls wound up in the vice principal\u2019s office. <\/a>How did you verify Wanda\u2019s memory?<\/span>French: <\/strong>Here, we really can\u2019t. The textbook certainly brings a lot of validity to her memories. But she doesn\u2019t remember the name of the teacher or the classmate, so we can\u2019t call them. I\u2019d love to have found a yearbook, and with more time, I would\u2019ve pursued one.<\/span><\/span> <\/a>Why did you choose summary instead of dramatic narrative here?<\/span>French: <\/strong>We just didn\u2019t have the detail for dramatic narrative.<\/span><\/span> <\/a>The verb choice is powerful. You had other options \u2014 hit, punched. Why did you choose \u201cslugged\u201d?<\/span>French: <\/strong>That was a paragraph Rick Hampson wrote for the original Tucker family story. He graciously let us have it for this Angola narrative. Slugged was his word.<\/span><\/span>
\n
\nWanda and her two brothers, Vincent and Verrandall, grew up in a mostly black neighborhood in Hampton. Much of what they learned about their history came from family elders when helping with the grocery store, the family cleaners or the produce truck.\u00a0 <\/a>You break from the dramatic narrative for a long time to deliver background. Why?<\/span>Berry: <\/strong>I don\u2019t know that it was intentional. But I think in part it changed the pace and gave readers some context for what the trip meant for Wanda. It didn\u2019t need the dramatic narrative approach. The details painted enough of the picture.<\/span><\/span>
\n
\nWanda learned that her people had been self-made. They were entrepreneurs. Wanda herself worked in her grandfather\u2019s tailor shop from the age of 12. She knew how to fit a suit to a man in a way that made him stand taller, that commanded respect \u2014 an inch of break at the cuff, a quarter-inch of sleeve at the wrist, knuckles even with the bottom of the jacket. <\/a>How did you delve into her past to collect these wonderfully descriptive details?<\/span>French: <\/strong>I asked her. Then I Googled \u201cHow to measure a man for a suit\u201d and asked Wanda if the details I found matched her memory. I had written about a tailor years ago and learned some things from that reporting that I was able to use to ask questions here.<\/span><\/span> On Easter, her handiwork was displayed in the pews at the Providence Baptist Church.
\n
\nHer father and her uncles kept their hair trimmed and their shoes shined.
\n
\n\u201cThey walked like proud men,\u201d Wanda said.
\n
\n<\/a>The narrative shifts back and forth from Wanda in Africa, her ancestors\u2019 history and her own biography. How did you structure these sections? Did you outline? Storyboard?<\/span>Berry: <\/strong>Outlines, which changed all the time.<\/span><\/span>
\n
\nIn a land that had tried to rob their people of dignity, strip them of their identity and steal their labor, the Tuckers knew they were somebody. <\/a>The sentence reveals the power of threes. Why did you write it this way?<\/span>French<\/strong>: Using threes can build a powerful rhythm. As Roy Peter Clark describes in “Writing Tools,” the number of examples (or characters or whatever) carries significance. Two sets up a compare-contrast situation. Three of anything is a group. We want a group here, because we\u2019re describing related elements \u2014 all examples of bad stuff that happened. Four is too many. Three works. But the string of threes also starts a rhythm that gets snapped with “the Tuckers knew they were somebody.” It\u2019s like a train is picking up speed and then it smacks into a wall. It takes all the momentum and steam from the those verbs \u2014 rob, strip, steal \u2014 and shifts the emphasis to the part of the sentence where you really need it. One of my quirks is that I use threes a little too often. Sometimes I have to go through drafts and cut out two of my three examples. Using three can be powerful rhythmically, and it can also create an annoying drumbeat.<\/span><\/span>
\n
\nAs she grew up, Wanda came to realize that history was an ever-changing story, and it depended on who was telling it.
\n
\nShe earned degrees \u2014 in psychology, religious studies, theology and educational leadership. She runs the Psychology, Philosophy and Religious Studies departments at Rio Salado College in Tempe, Arizona. <\/a>Did you learn all of Wanda’s backstory before you left for Angola?<\/span>Berry:<\/strong> We learned some of this before we left. We learned a lot more during the hours on the bus, in hotels, in the villages and in local restaurants. We also followed up with her when we returned to the U.S. Wanda graciously answered all the calls, emails, texts and WhatsApp messages. I also called all the colleges to confirm that she had indeed attended and earned those degrees.<\/span><\/span>
\n
\nHer academic training never undermined her faith in her family\u2019s history. Just because it wasn\u2019t on paper didn\u2019t mean it wasn\u2019t true.
\n
\nOver the years, she and others interviewed their elders, pored over birth records and carefully tended the family cemetery. They gained a level of celebrity in Hampton.
\n
\nWhen the opportunity to go to Angola came along, Wanda didn\u2019t flinch. <\/a>Who paid for Wanda Tucker\u2019s trip to Angola? Did that raise any ethical or storytelling challenges?<\/span>Berry: <\/strong>USA Today paid for Wanda\u2019s trip. It was mentioned in the story. As part of the arrangement, Wanda worked (much like a freelancer). She was obligated to write daily journal posts about her experience (excerpts were published) and to do daily video blogs. It didn\u2019t interfere with the storytelling. It helped.<\/span><\/span>
\n
\nShe packed a bag and told everyone she\u2019d be back in two weeks.
\n
\nShe wanted to be part of setting history right.\n

Recognition<\/h3>\n<\/a>Were the subheds used to organize the story? Who wrote them?<\/span>Berry: <\/strong>Yes and to set the scene. We all did, including our project editor.<\/span><\/span>
\n
\nWanda bumped along with a knot in her stomach, riding through the capital city of Luanda in a van with a cracked windshield and a broken door. <\/a>How do you know how she felt?<\/span>Berry <\/strong>We asked \u2014 all the time.<\/span><\/span>
\n
\nLow adobe huts blurred past, roofs held down by concrete blocks. Then came peeling high-rises with rusty air conditioners. Wash lines with colorful clothes hung from balconies. The city bustled with people, but few of them seemed in a hurry. Children headed to class in white uniforms. On the sidewalks, people prayed, bounced babies, grilled yams, crammed bus stops, peed against walls, braided hair, carried strings of fish. <\/a>This is a richly-detailed picture of an African city? How did you capture it all?<\/span>French: <\/strong>We both took lots of notes. We later compared notes, which often showed we noticed similar details, jotted down similar color, picked up on similar quotes.<\/span><\/span>
\n
\nWanda navigated a packed open-air market where children trailed her with hopeful eyes. <\/a>\u201cHopeful\u201d is emotionally charged. What gave you the authority to use it?<\/span>French: <\/strong>When kids are following you asking for money and holding out their hands, they\u2019re hopeful.<\/span><\/span> It made her nervous to be crowded like that. Yellow fever had spread through this same market not long ago, but Wanda had slathered on bug spray and gotten her shots. <\/a>How did you learn about the yellow fever outbreak?<\/span>French: <\/strong>From the local journalist who was helping us with logistics and translation.<\/span><\/span>
\n
\n<\/a>At times like this the economy of the prose is striking. How did you achieve that?<\/span>French: <\/strong>I prune and prune and prune and prune and weigh every syllable. Nothing irritates me more than wordiness. If I read this story one more time, I could get another hundred words out. It\u2019s never perfect. But I want every word to do a specific job and do it well. It can always be more sharp, more clear, more muscular, more lyrical.<\/span><\/span> <\/a><\/span>French: <\/strong>The only shot that revealed anything about her trip would\u2019ve been yellow fever. So that\u2019s implied. No need to list the others. If I send you to the grocery to get Diet Cherry Dr Pepper because I crave that stuff at odd hours, that\u2019s a detail that reveals something about me. If you also pick up paper towels, that says nothing, because everyone runs out of paper towels every day. So when a detail goes into the story, it must go in with a specific job to do. But also, in this sentence we are not in Wanda\u2019s head but we are this close<\/em> to her, writing nearly in her perspective. She wouldn\u2019t have been wandering through that market rattling off every shot she\u2019d received. She\u2019d just say she\u2019d gotten her shots. It\u2019s a tone thing. We\u2019re not just tossing color around willy nilly. We\u2019re leading the reader\u2019s eye. It\u2019s engineered.<\/span><\/span>\n<\/a>How long did it take to write?<\/span>Berry: <\/strong>We had about two weeks from our return from Angola to write the story and help with elements of the rest of the package, including captions, graphics, illustrations, etc. We also had to finish the original Tucker family story.<\/span><\/span>\n<\/a>What was the biggest writing challenge?<\/span>Berry: <\/strong>One challenge was trying to condense 10 days of reporting and amazing color into a narrative that would tell Wanda\u2019s story and at the same time tell the story of the Angolans who were enslaved and the Angolans still there.<\/span><\/span> <\/a>Were the first drafts much longer? If so, how did you decide what to cut?<\/span>Berry: <\/strong>Yes, the first drafts were longer. Kelley did a great job of cutting. And it helped to have fresh pairs of eyes \u2014 our project editor Kristen Go and Rick Hampson, co-writer on the Tucker family story. Of course some of the cuts were painful. But something had to go.<\/span><\/span>
\n
\n\u201cThis is just a part of the journey,\u2019\u2019 she said.
\n
\nIt seemed as if everything in Angola was missing a piece of itself. Everything was a little crooked, a little broken. But there was something recognizable here, too. She saw pride. She saw straight backs, careful dress, attention to detail. She saw flashes of something in the faces around her. <\/a>Was Wanda telling you these things?<\/span>French: <\/strong>She specifically noted the straight backs, careful dress, attention to detail. I asked her about the observation I\u2019d jotted in my notebook upon our arrival \u2014 that everything seemed to be missing a piece of itself. I said, it seemed this way to me. And she said, oh yes, that feels true.<\/span><\/span> <\/a>Did you use audio recorders?<\/span>Berry: <\/strong>Yes. We also used cameras and old-fashioned notebooks.<\/span><\/span> <\/a>With two reporters on the story, how did you divide the interviews with Wanda?<\/span>Berry: <\/strong>Sometimes we did it together, particularly when we participated in the video blog interview. But we also just talked to her separately during our travels. There weren\u2019t defined times or angles or approaches.<\/span><\/span>
\n
\nFamily, maybe. Or something close.\n

Adrift<\/h3>\nThrough the window of what was once a slave trader\u2019s house in the outskirts of Luanda, Wanda could hear the waves rolling into shore.
\n
\nAngola was barely mentioned in most histories of the slave trade<\/a>, but this was where it had begun. Historians had learned fairly recently that the first Africans had been captured here. <\/a>What historians? Why aren\u2019t they quoted?<\/span>Berry: <\/strong>We interviewed several local, national and international historians. We quoted them in other stories that are part of the package. We had reported enough to write with authority. Mentors like Reginald Stuart would hammer that into my head.<\/span><\/span>
\n
\nThe striking white building on a rocky cliff was now a national slavery museum.<\/a> Director Vlademiro Fortuna guided Wanda past iron shackles, some made small to grip the wrists of children. At one display, she paused by a yoke cut from a thick tree. She put her hands up by her face as she imagined the weight of the wood across her shoulders.
\n
\nIt was the baptismal room that gave her the most pause. She gently touched a small, sand-colored bowl, imagining Anthony and Isabella being sprinkled with holy water and given their new names. <\/a>Again, this is told through Wanda\u2019s point of view? How were you able to do that?<\/span>Berry <\/strong>We watched her to describe her actions. We asked her to describe her feelings, reactions. French: <\/strong> Every line is a choice. You could write \u201cthe waves crashed into shore\u201d but it\u2019s much more effective to put it in Wanda\u2019s head. \u201cShe could hear the waves\u2026\u201d I watched her in that baptismal room, having a moment, visibly emotional. I asked her about that moment. I asked her which part of the museum was the most profound for her. I asked her why. I watched her touch the bowl and then, immediately, I asked her what she was thinking about. <\/span><\/span>
\n
\nWanda, who had been ordained in the Baptist church, was shaken by the thought of captors using religion to defend the business of slavery.
\n
\n\u201cThe slave traders had to justify their crime,\u201d Fortuna told her. So they said Africans were descended from Cain. Slavery would cleanse the sins of past lives.
\n
\nIn the time of Anthony and Isabella, Wanda also learned, the slave trade had been dominated by the Portuguese. The Portuguese would stoke tensions between African tribes and reap the captives from those battles. The English were not yet as involved \u2014 they were plundering gold and silver from Ghana.
\n
\nAnthony and Isabella came from the powerful Ndongo kingdom, whose descendants still lived in the Angolan interior near the Lukala and Kwanza rivers. Many from the kingdom were skilled iron workers and farmers, Fortuna said.
\n
\nHe speculated that Anthony and Isabella knew each other, their bond forming sometime during the long march to the shore, or on the horrific voyage, five months long. Nearly half of the 350 captives aboard the San Juan Bautista died on the journey.
\n
\n\u201cIt was one of the most terrible experiences someone can endure,\u201d he told Wanda. <\/a>Here you rely on an expert voice. Why?<\/span>Berry: We let the expert (an authority) tell readers what the experience must have been like. French: He\u2019s an expert, but he\u2019s also in a scene and interacting with Wanda, so it\u2019s the least wonky way to get an expert into the story. And Wanda learned some things there, as did we did.<\/span><\/span>
\n
\nOutside, Wanda boarded a small boat so she could view the museum from the water and get a sense, if only a little, of what it might have been like for Anthony and Isabella to step off of Angolan soil for the last time.
\n
\nIt had been mere hours since she\u2019d crossed this water on a KLM wide-body jet.
\n
\nFrom the window she had looked down at this same ocean \u2014 black and flat and forever deep. She\u2019d imagined her ancestors shackled aboard ships.
\n
\nThe men had been packed into the lower level where they couldn\u2019t fight back, she’d learned, with women and children higher. Some became so desperate they jumped overboard. Some threw their babies overboard to spare them what lay ahead. They sucked in the brine and closed their eyes and swallowed salt. Maybe they tried to swim or maybe they just sank. There were so many bodies, sharks trailed the ships. <\/a>What an awful image? What\u2019s the source?<\/span>Berry: <\/strong>One source was the director of the National Slave Museum in Angola and another was a curator at the NMAAHC. Other sources were history books. French: <\/strong>The detail about sharks trailing the ships comes from journals and personal accounts from the period, but it\u2019s widely documented.<\/span><\/span>
\n
\nBut Anthony and Isabella survived. Wanda drew strength from that.
\n
\nShe tried to picture them there, in sickness and stench, in a space that became less cramped as the months wore on. She closed her eyes and felt the rocking of the ship, rocking, rocking in the dark. So much had changed in 400 years. But not the sound of the wind, and not the sound of the waves.
\n
\nAll her life, she\u2019d found comfort in prayer. But she hadn\u2019t prayed on the plane, and she didn\u2019t pray now. It was hard, so hard, to admit that. She often wondered, to whom should she pray? To the God who let it happen? Or the God who let her return?\n

Black and white<\/h3>\nThat evening, Wanda ventured to an open-air market crammed with rickety shacks as the shadows grew long and the light turned gold.
\n
\nShe ate local fish with the head still attached. Women toting infants on their backs had scraped scales with sharp knives and cooked over tin barrels, the skin of the fish blistering and blackening.
\n
\nA young man with a guitar played songs about love. When asked to sing a song about slavery, he said he didn\u2019t know any. But all his songs were sad anyway. <\/a>Who asked him to sing a song about slavery?<\/span>French: <\/strong>A translator working with us.<\/span><\/span>
\n
\nLater, Wanda learned that back home, President Donald Trump had called the city of Baltimore<\/a> a \u201cdisgusting, rat and rodent infested mess.\u201d
\n
\nFifty-one percent of the U.S. voters thought he was racist, according to a Quinnipiac University poll<\/a>.
\n
\nIt had been two weeks since Trump had encouraged four new congresswomen of color<\/a> to \u201cgo back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places\u201d from which they came. It had been 18 months since he\u2019d called African nations \u201cshithole countries<\/a>.\u201d <\/a>The dramatic narrative of Wanda\u2019s visit is broken here by a more traditional journalistic voice? Why?<\/span>Berry: <\/strong>In part because it was \u201cnews\u201d happening. It warranted that approach. French: <\/strong>Because we have to tell the reader some stuff in a little more detail than Wanda was probably carrying in her head. So we need a slight distance from Wanda\u2019s perspective and from the narrative of the trip. Wanda has been aware of all of these news events but she can\u2019t cite poll numbers. We need a little newsier, more objective voice.<\/span><\/span>
\n
\nThe happenings at home weren\u2019t lost on Wanda.
\n
\nWhen people spoke about American values \u2014 about freedom and equality \u2014 she saw a more complicated history. \u201cOur values are mixed,\u201d she said. \u201cIt depends on where you\u2019re standing on what day.\u201d <\/a>When did she make this comment? On the trip, or after she returned home?<\/span>French: <\/strong>The day we left, at the USA Today headquarters in Virginia, in a conversation with me.<\/span><\/span>
\n
\nThose in power justified slavery with the values at the time \u2014 prosperity, survival, the cleansing of souls and the expansion of the empire.
\n
\nToday, she saw brown children in cages<\/a> at the U.S. and Mexico border. She saw black boys being shot in the street. Much of her research involved young black men. <\/a>“Today” suggests this was happening during the trip? Was it? Did she talk about this in Angola?<\/span>Berry <\/strong>It wasn\u2019t literally today, but it was part of the current news. I don\u2019t remember exactly when I talked to Wanda about this. But she had repeatedly talked about her work and research around young black men. French: <\/strong>We were together 18-20 hours some days. She talked about all of this stuff on the trip. It was very much on her mind.<\/span><\/span>
\n
\n\u201cHere we go again,\u201d she said.\n

Faith<\/h3>\nIn a conference room of a Catholic church in Luanda, Wanda furiously scribbled in her pink notebook, peeking over her glasses.
\n
\nFather Gabriele Bortolami, an Italian Capuchin priest and professor of anthropology, poured libations onto the floor in honor of the ancestors. He passed around small cups of the cloudy palm wine. Everyone sipped. <\/a>Why did you choose the word \u201clibations?\u201d<\/span>Berry: <\/strong>That\u2019s what it\u2019s called, particularly as part of African traditions.<\/span><\/span> <\/a>Who else was there?<\/span>French: <\/strong>Our whole team \u2014 Deb, me, visual journalist Jarrad Henderson, reporter Nichelle Smith, who was working on a different story\u2014 a local journalist who was translating for us, a second translator and our driver.<\/span><\/span>
\n
\nCasually, as if he were pulling out a dictionary, Bortolami took a thick book from a wooden cabinet. The cover barely clung to the binder, but the words \u2014 in Italian \u2014 were bold against the white pages. \u201cIstorica Descrittione De\u2019 Tre Regni Congo, Matamba Et Angola.\u201d
\n
\nHistorical description of the three kingdoms of Congo, Matamba and Angola.
\n
\nIt was written in 1690.
\n
\nWanda was in awe. Here was a document written by people who might have been alive at the time Anthony and Isabella were taken.
\n
\nBortolami flipped through the pages, talking about the culture of ancient African kingdoms. But when someone asked how the church justified the role it played in the slave trade, he didn’t fully answer. <\/a>Who asked the question? How difficult was it to keep yourselves out of the story?<\/span>French: <\/strong>Deb asked. It was a question that was very much on Wanda\u2019s heart and mind, and we knew that. So it needed to be asked. Berry: <\/strong>I didn\u2019t consider asking that as being part of the story. It was a legitimate question to ask considering how Christianity was used by some to enslave Africans.<\/span><\/span>
\n
\nAngolans were also enslaved by Catholic priests, he said, and life with them was better than with the Portuguese. It was an old familiar theme. Somehow, they were better off, even as slaves. Wanda heard no remorse.
\n
\nWanda walked out. She didn\u2019t want to cry. She was way beyond seventh grade, but there she was again.
\n
\nOut in the hall. <\/a>Did she tell you this?<\/span>French: <\/strong>Yes, we talked about it at length. When she walked out, we saw the parallel to 7th grade pretty immediately.<\/span><\/span>\n

Spirits<\/h3>\nOn the road out of the city, cars jammed together and the lane divisions were mere suggestions. <\/a>What a great phrase. How did you come up with that?<\/span>French: <\/strong>There\u2019s a line I remember from an old story\u2014 I can\u2019t remember if it was my story or someone else\u2019s \u2014 about how the water is so deep and blue \u201cthe bottom is just a rumor.\u201d That line popped into my head and I adapted it. A lot of writing is just feeding your brain with the rhythms and structures of good writing, with fodder for story ideas, with a sense of what\u2019s possible.<\/span><\/span>
\n
\nPeople lined both sides of the streets offering goods for sale \u2014 zip ties, pillows, mangoes, USB cords, popcorn, shoes, basketballs, ties, lighters, pens, floor mats, shower heads, crackers, rakes.
\n
\nIt was like a dollar store in the streets, brought to you one item at a time. <\/a>A strong metaphor. Did it show up in your notebook, composition or revision?<\/span>French: <\/strong>Deb and I laughed when we saw this question. I wrote something clunky and Deb didn\u2019t love it and she wrote something. Both versions sat there in the draft until Kristen Go broke the stalemate with a smart mashup of our two versions. Every time I see a dollar store now I think of this.<\/span><\/span>
\n
\nWanda was seeing the contrasts of the Angolan economy up close. The country was rich in oil, diamonds, gold, iron and farmland, but a small number of businesses kept a stranglehold on commerce. The country didn’t build much of anything and imported most of its food.
\n
\nTwenty-seven years of civil war<\/a>, from the ousting of the Portuguese in 1975 until 2002, had torn the place apart. Land mines still marred the landscape. Even the animal park needed replenishing, as soldiers had eaten most of the country\u2019s prized giant sable antelope.
\n
\nMost everyone here was brown, but they were not equal. They had endured decades of hardship for the benefit of a few.
\n
\n<\/a>This is a rich and sad portrait of contemporary Angola? What is it based on?<\/span>French: <\/strong>It\u2019s originally based on numerous conversations with Angolans, all of which Wanda was part of. This was the portrait our Angolan sources painted again and again. I put the paragraph together without looking at a notebook. Then I went looking for official sources to back it all up and linked to all of those sources in the comments section of the draft so everyone could see the \u201cofficial\u201d sourcing of what we\u2019d learned on the ground in Angola.<\/span><\/span>
\n
\nAt the slavery museum, Fortuna had told Wanda, \u201cThere are new ways of slavery.\u201d
\n
\nShe could see it.
\n
\nShe also saw that people here were resilient. The women selling yams on the roadside were entrepreneurs. In that way, they were not so different from the Tuckers of Virginia.
\n
\n\u201cThey seem to be a very proud people,” Wanda said. <\/a>Did she interact with any of Angolans?<\/span>Berry: <\/strong>Absolutely \u2014 as much as she could. Those interactions are in the story, in the pictures, in the videos. She wouldn\u2019t have it any other way.<\/span><\/span>
\n
\nWanda\u2019s bus continued east more than 200 miles, to the village where Anthony and Isabella might have lived, to the old fort where they might have been branded and penned, to the mountains where they might have fled. <\/a>How did she know where to go?<\/span>Berry: <\/strong>Nichelle Smith had mapped out much of our trip based on advice from experts on Angola and slavery.<\/span><\/span>
\n
\nThe bus lurched and swerved around crater-size potholes. Wanda bounced off her seat. Water bottles and luggage shot across the floor. Darkness fell outside the bus windows. Bonfires lit the sky. The air smelled like burning hide.
\n
\nWanda, sleepy in her seat, looked up and saw a man standing in the aisle. He was tall, thin, wearing a hat. She didn\u2019t see his face, but he was no one she knew.
\n
\nWanda doesn\u2019t normally see spirits or apparitions. But her daughter, Alexis, had told her she needed to be open to them. The ancestors are talking, she told her mom. Wanda didn\u2019t know what to make of the man on the bus, but she wasn\u2019t afraid.
\n
\nShe looked away and back again, and he was gone.
\n
\n<\/a>Did either of you see the man?<\/span>French: <\/strong>No, but another member of our team said she did. It was too awkward to work that in, and including it would have put the focus on whether or not the man \u2014 or apparition or spirit or whatever, was actually there. I was not about to try to establish in this story whether ghosts exist. Wanda had the experience she had and that was enough. Berry: <\/strong>Agreed. We had much discussion about this. We all felt it was important to include.<\/span><\/span> <\/a>The pacing of the story is very effective as you alternate between short and long sentences and paragraphs.<\/span>French: <\/strong>For a story to have energy and movement, it needs variety of all kinds. Long sentences and short. Up the ladder of abstraction and back down. Zoom in, zoom out. Speed up, slow down. A story of this length has to do some bobbing and weaving. Often I\u2019m just flying by feel. I hear the music in my head and write to it.. There are some guidelines, though. Short sentences slow the reader. Every comma is a pause. Every period a stop. See? I use short sentences often when I want to pump the brakes, to say to the reader: Here it comes. Here it comes. Ready? THERE. Long sentences take the reader by the arm like Superman grabbed Lois Lane when they stepped off the rooftop and went sailing over the city, swooping past the skyscrapers and spiraling around the Statue of Liberty and slicing through the clouds, then a freefall and a catch and a slow spin, and then we\u2019re off again. I like to use long sentences to get from Point A to Point B, or to build momentum.<\/span><\/span>\n

Welcome home<\/h3>\nThe answers Wanda sought were in the villages, where the elders told stories around the fire under a dome of stars.
\n
\nOut here, there were elected or appointed officials, and then there were the sobas<\/em> \u2014 essentially village chiefs. To see the far-flung relics of the slave trade, Wanda would have to seek guidance from both. Suspicion and police checkpoints made free travel impossible. But everywhere she went, when she told them who she was, they broke into smiles.
\n
\nAs the sun set in Kalandula, the village soba greeted Wanda in his khaki uniform. He took her hands and she bowed.
\n
\n\u201cWelcome home,\u201d he told her.
\n
\nShe wished she\u2019d worn her finest hand-made African dress, but he welcomed her like a lost daughter anyway. \u201cIt is an honor to be here,\u201d she told him, \u201cto be home.\u2019\u2019
\n
\nThe elders spoke a mix of Portuguese and Kimbundu, the Bantu language Anthony and Isabella likely spoke. They told of villagers captured and sent away. They told her they had a word for the sea: kalunga<\/em> \u2014 death. No one who crossed those waters ever returned. <\/a>Did you work with a translator?<\/span>French:<\/strong> We traveled with a local journalist who translated from English to Portuguese, and another translated from Portuguese to Kimbundu.<\/span><\/span>
\n
\n\u201cWe suffered a lot,\u201d said the soba, whose name was Antonio Manuel Domingos. The slave trade devastated communities, and many never recovered.
\n
\nWanda asked what she should tell fellow African-Americans back at home.
\n
\n\u201cYou have relatives here,\u201d he replied.
\n
\nThat stuck with Wanda. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t that they forgot us. We forgot about them.\u201d <\/a><\/span>Berry: <\/strong>We were all together when the soba told Wanda you have relatives here. But I talked to her later when we had returned to the U.S. about that visit. That\u2019s when she said that last quote. I thought it was powerful.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>
\n
\nEverywhere Wanda went \u2014 in Kalandula, in Malanje, in Ndalatando, in Ndongo \u2014 local officials made it clear the country is desperate for outside investment.
\n
\nThey\u2019re trying to revive their oldest industries \u2014 cotton, coffee, farming. But investors face a system hobbled by corruption and red tape. Unlike other African countries such as Ghana, Angola is not a tourist destination.\u00a0 <\/a>Getting a visa can be an ordeal. <\/a>Is this based on personal experience?<\/span>Berry: <\/strong>Yep. The whole team can testify.<\/span><\/span> Historic sites are hours apart. They have no roadside scenic stops or gift shops or even a place to mail a postcard.
\n
\nStill, there are few places with an older connection to the slave trade in the British colonies. Local officials told Wanda they would welcome back their lost brothers and sisters. African Americans and Africans are still connected, said Pedro Dembue, administrator for Kalandula. Values have endured.
\n
\n\u201cThe good will always leave and return home,\u201d he told Wanda.
\n
\nHe called her a good daughter.\n

Queen<\/h3>\nThe rock formations rising out of the savannah seem impossible, like they were dropped there by some heavenly spirit with a pocketful of pebbles. <\/a>That’s a poetic simile. Why did you use it? Did it come to you at the scene or later?<\/span>French:<\/strong> We had hours to gaze out the bus window at the weird rocks and wrestle with how to describe them. We were talking about spirits a lot, imagining these ancestors and invisible forces. When I\u2019m trying to describe something that has lots of top-of-the-ladder majesty, I will usually screw it up if I try to use top-of-the-ladder words, like majesty. Go the other direction. Go for simple language. Pocketful of pebbles is easy to see. Grandeur is not.<\/span><\/span>
\n
\nThe people who lived and hid among them four centuries ago gave them names. One of the most famous looks like a sleeping baby elephant.
\n
\nIt\u2019s here that Njinga, queen of the Ndongo and Matamba kingdoms, fought to defend her people from Portuguese conquerors in the 1600s. <\/a>How and where did you learn this history?<\/span>Berry: <\/strong>We relied on research and interviews with historians. We also read articles and other resources. All of that helped us to tell the history. French: <\/strong>The history of Njinga is not obscure in this part of the world. It\u2019s like asking how did you learn about George Washington. Her face is everywhere. Her story is the story of this entire people. We didn\u2019t just read about her. We stood on sacred ground in the hills where she ruled and spoke with her descendants about the stories they\u2019ve handed down over generations. We got the story every way you could get it.<\/span><\/span>
\n
\nNjinga, who came to power five years after Anthony and Isabella were captured, is the most awe-inspiring of the Angolan ancestors. Statues of her overlook fortresses and traffic circles. Her image is on hotel drapes and her name is emblazoned on water bottles.
\n
\nHere in Pungo Andongo, her footprints, they say, are embedded in the black rock. Wanda stood over them as the grand soba of the territory, Philip Manuel John Lenda, told her this was a sacred place.
\n
\nSome scholars once told the soba those could be anyone\u2019s footprints, trapped in lava, but something about the stillness of the place made it feel as if anything was possible.
\n
\n\u201cOur great grandfathers were the kings of this land,\u201d the soba said.
\n
\nNjinga demanded the Portuguese treat her as an equal. When they showed up to a meeting with chairs only for themselves, expecting her to sit on the floor, she had a servant kneel on all fours and used his back as a stool. She made the Portuguese look her in the eye.
\n
\nBut even Njinga has seen her legacy questioned. She submitted to baptism by the Portuguese \u2014 a political move some saw as weak. She gave up prisoners of war to placate the Portuguese, who betrayed her. <\/a>What\u2019s the source?<\/span>Berry: <\/strong>Village elders, articles, local museums and experts. The whole scene is even carved into tiles in the military museum we visited.<\/span><\/span>
\n
\nSomething stirred in Wanda, seeing an entire country honor a black woman for her leadership and strength.
\n
\nTo Wanda, a mother of three and grandmother of four, the queen represented the fortitude she\u2019d had to summon in her own life. <\/a>How do you know this?<\/span>Berry: <\/strong>We asked.<\/span><\/span> She had dealt with divorces, family tensions. She\u2019d learned to turn strength into action.
\n
\nShe organized a domestic violence conference on the campus where she teaches. After the shooting last fall at a Pittsburgh synagogue,<\/a> she helped coordinate a march. <\/a>Why did you wait until this point to provide this background about Wanda?<\/span>Berry: <\/strong>It was relevant here. The queen came to mean a lot to Wanda.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0.
\n
\nShe saw Njinga\u2019s strength most clearly in her youngest daughter, Alexis. Every night on the trip, Wanda Skyped with her and told her about the day\u2019s adventures. The trip had brought them closer. <\/a>Did the presence of journalists make Wanda\u2019s journey easier, in terms of access to place and people?<\/span>French: <\/strong>It would be difficult to just go to Angola as a tourist, though that\u2019s what the leaders insist they want. Logistics there are hard. You can\u2019t just drive freely to these sites. Certainly the potential for Angola to freshen its image post-civil-war in a major U.S. publication spurred local leaders to accommodate our team. Once they knew what we were doing, we had tremendous support there.<\/span><\/span> <\/a>Did you have any concern that your presence was affecting what was going on? What steps did you take to distance yourself from what Wanda was experiencing while at the same time documenting it?<\/span>Berry: <\/strong>We respected her personal time and gave her space to experience moments. She knew we were there, but we were respectful. I think that helped when she shared her thoughts then and later. French: <\/strong>The whole trip was arranged by us, so there wasn\u2019t any pretense that we were merely observing some organic scene. Even when we visited the villages, we were not witnessing normal life in the village. That kind of authenticity would take months or years of patient reporting. We had days.<\/span><\/span>
\n
\nBut Wanda\u2019s emotions were real. Her insights were hers. We checked in with her often about whether we were too close or not close enough. Often she wanted us near so she wouldn\u2019t fall apart in public. We had to accept that our circumstances were unusual and just be transparent with the reader.
\n
\nWanda wanted to show Alexis the statue of Njinga at the military museum in Luanda \u2014 a warrior, standing tall. She wanted her daughter to see cornrows forged in bronze.
\n
\nShe couldn\u2019t wait to return to Angola with Alexis at her side.\n

Not alone<\/h3>\nIn Mufuma, a tiny community of red clay huts, day turned to night. Five musicians kneeled behind the marimba, an instrument made of flat wooden keys and hollowed out cabaca fruit.\u00a0 They gripped their wooden mallets and began to tap.
\n
\nA young girl stepped forward, stirring up red dust as she began to step frantically to the beat of mbuenze. <\/a>What does \u201cmbuenze\u201d mean and why didn\u2019t you translate it?<\/span>Berry: <\/strong>We figured the context would be enough since we described the men playing an instrument.<\/span><\/span> Soon others joined her, women and children and men and elders, shimmying to a centuries-old sound.
\n
\nWanda smiled. She\u2019d arrived here curious but an outsider. She\u2019d felt utterly alone. Over the past week, she\u2019d come to recognize herself and her relatives in the faces of these strangers. She saw her grandfather\u2019s proud walk. She saw her daughter\u2019s strength.
\n
\n\u201cWelcome home,\u201d they’d said at the U.S. Embassy.
\n
\n\u201cWelcome home,\u201d they\u2019d said in Malanje.
\n
\n\u201cWelcome home,\u201d they\u2019d said in Kalandula.
\n
\n\u201cTusange.\u201d <\/a>What language is this and what does it mean?<\/span>Berry: <\/strong>It means welcome home in the native language of the village.<\/span><\/span>
\n
\nShe\u2019d grown more confident introducing herself as one of them. The Descendent. <\/a>Is this the term she used?<\/span>Berry: <\/strong>Yes.<\/span><\/span>
\n
\nShe had been received like a daughter, long lost and now returned.
\n
\nNothing she had learned had made the link between her family and the Angolans on board that ship in 1619 more legitimate on paper. <\/a>Was she disappointed? Was USA Today disappointed?<\/span>Berry: <\/strong>She wasn\u2019t disappointed. It had been 400 years since the ship left. She didn\u2019t expect to find records \u2014 not in Angola anyway. USA Today wasn\u2019t either. We didn\u2019t have such expectations.<\/span><\/span>
\n
\nBut now she could hear the ancestors speak and have faith in where they were leading her.
\n
\n\u201cAh what the heck,\u201d Wanda said aloud,\u00a0then jumped up and joined the dancers. <\/a>Why was it important to say “aloud?”<\/span>Berry:<\/strong> Because it wasn\u2019t what she thought or what we thought she felt. I heard her say it before she jumped up. I knew we had to use that. It showed her spur-of-the-moment decision to join in. She later described it as one of the highlights of her trip.<\/span><\/span>
\n
\nIt didn\u2019t matter that she didn\u2019t have the exact moves. She was surrounded by beautiful black women who looked like her.
\n
\nAn elderly woman from the village danced up next to Wanda. The two wrapped their arms around each other and laughed and spun and laughed some more.
\n
\nShe had come such a long way to land in the arms of family, in a place that felt like home.
\n
\n<\/a>Why did you choose to end the story this way? Did you consider alternate endings?<\/span>Berry: <\/strong>It changed several times. We felt strongly that the dance scene should be ending. It said so much about the journey, particularly since Wanda felt so much at home in that moment. We also wanted to circle back to when she got off the plane, had longed for family and needed a hug. She may not have found everything she wanted in Angola, but she found this. French: <\/strong>Our negotiations were about word choice. I overwrote it. Deb wisely dug in her heels until we came upon the right language. I think I\u2019d said she \u201cfell into the arms of family,\u201d which sounds like she got the vapors.<\/span><\/span> <\/a>Did Wanda Tucker discover what she was searching for in Angola?<\/span>Berry: <\/strong>We think so, but she\u2019s still searching for more of her family story right here in America.<\/span><\/span>
\n
\nContributing: Rick Hampson, Nichelle Smith and Jarrad Henderson<\/em>
\n
\n<\/a>What role did these contributors play?<\/span>Berry: <\/strong>Rick found the textbook, which was a great \u201cget,\u201d and helped report the Tucker family story, which we borrowed from. Nichelle added historical context and research and provided invaluable information about our travel points. Jarrad took amazing pictures, produced a powerful video and led the video blogs, which were key to getting emotional quotes and reactions from Wanda.<\/span><\/span>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How a USA Today team helped a woman search her ancestral roots in Angola, home to the first Africans sold into slavery in what would become the U.S.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8030,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"topics":[],"authors":[13],"issue":[],"class_list":["post-1918","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-annotation-tuesday","authors-chip-scanlan"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe 1619 project: Tracing steps backwards to find a way forward - Nieman Storyboard<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/2019\/11\/26\/the-1619-project-tracing-steps-backwards-to-find-a-way-forward\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The 1619 project: Tracing steps backwards to find a way forward - Nieman Storyboard\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"How a USA Today team helped a woman search her ancestral roots in Angola, home to the first Africans sold into slavery in what would become the U.S.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/2019\/11\/26\/the-1619-project-tracing-steps-backwards-to-find-a-way-forward\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nieman Storyboard\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-11-26T19:10:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-03-19T18:51:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/03\/angola-wanda-face-e1574820867905.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"750\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"commonmedia\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"commonmedia\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"54 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/niemanstoryboard.org\\\/2019\\\/11\\\/26\\\/the-1619-project-tracing-steps-backwards-to-find-a-way-forward\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/niemanstoryboard.org\\\/2019\\\/11\\\/26\\\/the-1619-project-tracing-steps-backwards-to-find-a-way-forward\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"commonmedia\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/niemanstoryboard.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ad131fac9b2e8136d6171c8575cfc226\"},\"headline\":\"The 1619 project: Tracing steps backwards to find a way forward\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-11-26T19:10:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-03-19T18:51:30+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/niemanstoryboard.org\\\/2019\\\/11\\\/26\\\/the-1619-project-tracing-steps-backwards-to-find-a-way-forward\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":12440,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/niemanstoryboard.org\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/niemanstoryboard.org\\\/2019\\\/11\\\/26\\\/the-1619-project-tracing-steps-backwards-to-find-a-way-forward\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/niemanstoryboard.org\\\/app\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/03\\\/angola-wanda-face-e1574820867905.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Story Annotations\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/niemanstoryboard.org\\\/2019\\\/11\\\/26\\\/the-1619-project-tracing-steps-backwards-to-find-a-way-forward\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/niemanstoryboard.org\\\/2019\\\/11\\\/26\\\/the-1619-project-tracing-steps-backwards-to-find-a-way-forward\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/niemanstoryboard.org\\\/2019\\\/11\\\/26\\\/the-1619-project-tracing-steps-backwards-to-find-a-way-forward\\\/\",\"name\":\"The 1619 project: Tracing steps backwards to find a way forward - Nieman Storyboard\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/niemanstoryboard.org\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/niemanstoryboard.org\\\/2019\\\/11\\\/26\\\/the-1619-project-tracing-steps-backwards-to-find-a-way-forward\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/niemanstoryboard.org\\\/2019\\\/11\\\/26\\\/the-1619-project-tracing-steps-backwards-to-find-a-way-forward\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/niemanstoryboard.org\\\/app\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/03\\\/angola-wanda-face-e1574820867905.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-11-26T19:10:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-03-19T18:51:30+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/niemanstoryboard.org\\\/2019\\\/11\\\/26\\\/the-1619-project-tracing-steps-backwards-to-find-a-way-forward\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/niemanstoryboard.org\\\/2019\\\/11\\\/26\\\/the-1619-project-tracing-steps-backwards-to-find-a-way-forward\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/niemanstoryboard.org\\\/2019\\\/11\\\/26\\\/the-1619-project-tracing-steps-backwards-to-find-a-way-forward\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/niemanstoryboard.org\\\/app\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/03\\\/angola-wanda-face-e1574820867905.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/niemanstoryboard.org\\\/app\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/03\\\/angola-wanda-face-e1574820867905.jpg\",\"width\":750,\"height\":500,\"caption\":\"Wanda Tucker in Angola, on a trip to research her family's ancestry Deborah Barfield Berry\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/niemanstoryboard.org\\\/2019\\\/11\\\/26\\\/the-1619-project-tracing-steps-backwards-to-find-a-way-forward\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/niemanstoryboard.org\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The 1619 project: Tracing steps backwards to find a way forward\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/niemanstoryboard.org\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/niemanstoryboard.org\\\/\",\"name\":\"Nieman Storyboard\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/niemanstoryboard.org\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/niemanstoryboard.org\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/niemanstoryboard.org\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Nieman Storyboard\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/niemanstoryboard.org\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/niemanstoryboard.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/niemanstoryboard.org\\\/app\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/02\\\/NiemanKOLogo.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/niemanstoryboard.org\\\/app\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/02\\\/NiemanKOLogo.svg\",\"width\":1,\"height\":1,\"caption\":\"Nieman Storyboard\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/niemanstoryboard.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/niemanstoryboard.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ad131fac9b2e8136d6171c8575cfc226\",\"name\":\"commonmedia\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/7a67dac1d5145031a5e3f8bcb411f86c4aed5a7ebe4244392196080637ed18af?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/7a67dac1d5145031a5e3f8bcb411f86c4aed5a7ebe4244392196080637ed18af?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/7a67dac1d5145031a5e3f8bcb411f86c4aed5a7ebe4244392196080637ed18af?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"commonmedia\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/niemanstoryboard.org\\\/wp\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/niemanstoryboard.org\\\/author\\\/commonmedia\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The 1619 project: Tracing steps backwards to find a way forward - Nieman Storyboard","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/2019\/11\/26\/the-1619-project-tracing-steps-backwards-to-find-a-way-forward\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The 1619 project: Tracing steps backwards to find a way forward - Nieman Storyboard","og_description":"How a USA Today team helped a woman search her ancestral roots in Angola, home to the first Africans sold into slavery in what would become the U.S.","og_url":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/2019\/11\/26\/the-1619-project-tracing-steps-backwards-to-find-a-way-forward\/","og_site_name":"Nieman Storyboard","article_published_time":"2019-11-26T19:10:29+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-03-19T18:51:30+00:00","og_image":[{"width":750,"height":500,"url":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/03\/angola-wanda-face-e1574820867905.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"commonmedia","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"commonmedia","Est. reading time":"54 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/2019\/11\/26\/the-1619-project-tracing-steps-backwards-to-find-a-way-forward\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/2019\/11\/26\/the-1619-project-tracing-steps-backwards-to-find-a-way-forward\/"},"author":{"name":"commonmedia","@id":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/#\/schema\/person\/ad131fac9b2e8136d6171c8575cfc226"},"headline":"The 1619 project: Tracing steps backwards to find a way forward","datePublished":"2019-11-26T19:10:29+00:00","dateModified":"2025-03-19T18:51:30+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/2019\/11\/26\/the-1619-project-tracing-steps-backwards-to-find-a-way-forward\/"},"wordCount":12440,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/2019\/11\/26\/the-1619-project-tracing-steps-backwards-to-find-a-way-forward\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/03\/angola-wanda-face-e1574820867905.jpg","articleSection":["Story Annotations"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/2019\/11\/26\/the-1619-project-tracing-steps-backwards-to-find-a-way-forward\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/2019\/11\/26\/the-1619-project-tracing-steps-backwards-to-find-a-way-forward\/","url":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/2019\/11\/26\/the-1619-project-tracing-steps-backwards-to-find-a-way-forward\/","name":"The 1619 project: Tracing steps backwards to find a way forward - Nieman Storyboard","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/2019\/11\/26\/the-1619-project-tracing-steps-backwards-to-find-a-way-forward\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/2019\/11\/26\/the-1619-project-tracing-steps-backwards-to-find-a-way-forward\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/03\/angola-wanda-face-e1574820867905.jpg","datePublished":"2019-11-26T19:10:29+00:00","dateModified":"2025-03-19T18:51:30+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/2019\/11\/26\/the-1619-project-tracing-steps-backwards-to-find-a-way-forward\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/2019\/11\/26\/the-1619-project-tracing-steps-backwards-to-find-a-way-forward\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/2019\/11\/26\/the-1619-project-tracing-steps-backwards-to-find-a-way-forward\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/03\/angola-wanda-face-e1574820867905.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/03\/angola-wanda-face-e1574820867905.jpg","width":750,"height":500,"caption":"Wanda Tucker in Angola, on a trip to research her family's ancestry Deborah Barfield Berry"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/2019\/11\/26\/the-1619-project-tracing-steps-backwards-to-find-a-way-forward\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The 1619 project: Tracing steps backwards to find a way forward"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/","name":"Nieman Storyboard","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/#organization","name":"Nieman Storyboard","url":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/02\/NiemanKOLogo.svg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/02\/NiemanKOLogo.svg","width":1,"height":1,"caption":"Nieman Storyboard"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/#\/schema\/person\/ad131fac9b2e8136d6171c8575cfc226","name":"commonmedia","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7a67dac1d5145031a5e3f8bcb411f86c4aed5a7ebe4244392196080637ed18af?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7a67dac1d5145031a5e3f8bcb411f86c4aed5a7ebe4244392196080637ed18af?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7a67dac1d5145031a5e3f8bcb411f86c4aed5a7ebe4244392196080637ed18af?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"commonmedia"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/wp"],"url":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/author\/commonmedia\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1918"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1918\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14950,"href":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1918\/revisions\/14950"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1918"},{"taxonomy":"topics","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topics?post=1918"},{"taxonomy":"authors","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/authors?post=1918"},{"taxonomy":"issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issue?post=1918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}