Finding Unheard Voices in Public Records and Documents

Note that this program will be presented on the fourth Sunday in August.

In this program, Finding Unheard Voices in Public Records and Documents, WAG member Coleen DeGroff will share how she published the first book on African American enslavement in Alachua County.

She will describe her approach to creating and publishing a book using public records and historical archives, and how her discovery of long-hidden documents led her to finding accounts of hundreds of enslaved people who were brought to Alachua County to labor on nearly five dozen plantations for half a century, generating a significant amount of wealth for the region.

Alachua County Black Book: Accounts of Enslaved People Discovered in Ancient Records uses bills of sale, wills, mortgages, and more to give a glimpse into the lives of the enslaved and the people who enslaved them between 1815 and 1865.

DeGroff hopes that this compilation of long-buried accounts found in public archives will help other writers share the tales of these unheard voices so that they are not forgotten.

From the time Coleen DeGroff could pick up a pen, she has been a writer. From poetry and songs in her teen years, to writing articles for newspapers and magazines (including a stint as a humor columnist for a small Colorado magazine) to a fifteen-year career as a blogger and a real estate agent, writing has always been a part of her life. After making the decision to retire from real estate, Coleen followed her dreams back to writing about subjects close to her heart. She says she didn’t set out to write Alachua County Black Book. Instead, she believes the book found her, and she will always be grateful that it did.

More can be found about her writing career at https://www.coleendegroff.com/.