December 2025 Newsletter

Happy Holidays

As the year comes to a close, the Board of Directors of the Society of the First African Families of English America wishes to extend our warmest holiday wishes to each of our members, family and friends. Thank you for your continued support, dedication, and commitment to our shared mission. Your involvement and engagement make our organization stronger and more impactful.

May this holiday season bring you peace, joy, and time well spent with family, friends, and loved ones. We look forward to the year ahead and to continuing our work together in the coming year.

Wishing you a happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year.

Annual Meeting   

SOFAFEA’s Board of Directors has voted to make the Annual Meeting more accessible to as many members as possible.  

The Virtual Meeting for the Society’s - Annual Meeting and State of the Society will take place on Tuesday, January 27, 2026, at 7:00 p.m. EST/ 6:00 p.m. CST/ 5:00 p.m. MST/ 4:00 p.m. PST. An email under separate cover will be sent to members with a virtual meeting link on or before January 20, 2026.

The agenda will include: a review of the Society’s financial position; presentation of organizational updates from the Board; overview of SOFAFEA initiatives and partnerships; introduction of new Board Members; a look ahead to our vision for the coming year; and opportunities for member questions and engagement.

Help Us Grow Our Membership

The Society of the First African Families of English America launces its Legacy Lives On: Bring One, Build One Campaign. This campaign encourages current members to invite family and descendants while reaching new individuals who value genealogy, heritage, and the history of the first African families in English America. The goal is to strengthen the Society’s legacy, expand our community, and increase engagement through storytelling, outreach, and member-driven referrals.

Learn how you can help our objective to grow our membership by 25% through new applications and referrals; activate at least 40% of current members to recruit family or new members; and/or increase public visibility by 50% via website engagement, social media reach, and attendance at our national and regional meetings/ sessions by contacting our Genealogist General at genealogistgeneral@sofafea.org.

Ken Burns’ The American Revolution

The National Council on Public History Reflecting provided a summary of a review on the Ken Burns’ The American Revolution documentary.  According to NCPH the release of Ken Burns’ new documentary The American Revolution has led to varied responses to its content and messaging. Steven Mintz, professor of history at the University of Texas, Austin, offers one perspective, emphasizing that rather than make an attempt to unsettle audiences with historical truth, which is more in line with current historical scholarship, Burns’ documentary instead repeats comforting mythologies about the Revolution.  

https://stevenmintz.substack.com/p/what-ken-burns-wont-tell-you-about

To see episode #1 for the next 45 days. 

Civil Rights icon Sarah Roberts Elementary School unveiled in Boston, Massachusetts

Some 18 years before the end of the Civil War, Sarah Roberts was a young girl whose father attempted to enroll her in a white school in the Boston district but was rejected by the Boston School Committee because of her race. In 1847 her father Benjamin, along with abolitionist Charles Sumner and Robert Morris, challenged the district’s racial segregation policy, ultimately going before the Massachusetts Supreme Court.

SOFAFEA members-descendants of Sarah Roberts including VP Lena Galloway Reddick, Claire Galloway Jones, Teresa Harvey-Jackson and Brandon Jones advocated for the naming of the new school. According to the Michelle Wu

Boston’s Mayor Michelle Wu, who’s sons attend the school, “it was [the family’s] advocacy, their courage, their determination and their faith in a better future that helped ignite a national conversation, sparking the advocacy and the movement that turned into the Brown v. Board of Education decision over 100 years later.”

Image actual depiction of Sarah Roberts, her brother and her mother entering school, credit Anti-Slavery Almanac in Boston.

DID YOU KNOW?

Did you know that during the month of December, the winter solstice tips the Northern hemisphere its furthest distance from the sun. For most of the month, we will lose about 2 minutes of sunlight per day until the winter solstice. The winter solstice marks the start of winter and the shortest day on the calendar. However, on December 21st going forward, the days will slowly lengthen. And while the days may not be warmer, the Earth is tilting on its axis back toward the sun-so look up at the sky and smile and enjoy the extra Vitamin D.

SOFAFEA's Annual Conference
 America 250:
Forgotten Patriots A Dream Yet Realized

Conference Weekend: May 1 - 2, 2026

News Makers

• As part of the South Atlantic District’s SOFAFEA 250 initiatives, SOFAFEA Historian General Gigi Best-Richardson presented to the Fort Mose History Club, Florida a tribute to the Free Men of Color who contributed their lives to the cause of the American Revolution. The Patriots highlighted in her well received presentation originated from Virginia and North Carolina.
• The Society of the First African Families of English America is proud to announce that so many of our members also hold National Offices within the Daughters of the American Revolution. Over the next several issues we will share the names and positions of these very prominent women: Carla Clarke (National Vice Chair Franco-American Memorial Committee, Graves & Historical Sites); Taryn Kennedy (Personal Page to the President General, Continental Congress National Vice Chair, Marian Anderson Legacy); Yvonne Liser (National Vice Chair (NVC) of the Specialty Research Committee for African American Research, National Chair, Americanism Committee, State Regent District of Columbia DAR) ...more will follow in future newsletters.
• Society Members Orice Jenkins for his book: The Early County Massacre; and Ric Murphy as editor for the book Forgotten Patriots Northern Theater of The American Revolution, are 2025 Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society International Book Awardees. 
• If you know of a SOFAFEA member who is greatly contributing to the national narrative please let the editors know so that we may include them in upcoming newsletters ...thank you.

For more information

The Society of the First African Families of English America is a 501(c)3 organizations that relies on contributions, and all contributions are tax deductible.