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Black History and Caribbean Ancestry: Who Do You Think You Are?

Sunday 27th September 2026

Paul Crooks presents a masterclass examining a documented Caribbean ancestry journey from Britain to West Africa through Black history.

Many people researching Caribbean ancestry reach a point where records no longer seem to connect. Family links become harder to follow across generations shaped by slavery, migration and historical disruption.

In this online talk, genealogist and author Paul Crooks presents a documented family lineage connecting the Caribbean to West Africa through public records. Using a real family history case study, the session explores what this journey reveals about Black ancestry, identity and family connections across generations.

Paul Crooks is a genealogist, author and speaker specialising in Black history and African-Caribbean ancestry. He is known for one of the earliest documented reconstructions of Black British ancestry from the Caribbean to Africa using archival records, tracing his own ancestry from London to West Africa via Jamaica.

His work explores themes including ancestry, identity, migration, slavery, emancipation, Windrush and the interpretation of historical records. He is the author of A Tree Without Roots: The Guide to Tracing British, African and Asian-Caribbean Ancestry and the novel Ancestors. His research has been featured by the BBC and has helped thousands of people better understand their family histories and ancestral connections.

In this talk, Paul Crooks presents his own documented family history, tracing a lineage from Jamaica to the Gold Coast in West Africa. The session examines what made this reconstruction possible and what it reveals about the wider structure of Black family history across the Caribbean and the Atlantic world.

This session forms part of a wider series exploring how Black ancestry can be traced and understood across different historical periods.

What You’ll Gain

• A clear example of what Paul Crooks found when he traced his ancestry across six generations from London to the West African coast via the Caribbean
• What made it possible to move beyond the point where records usually stop
• How historical records shaped what could — and could not — be traced
• What this journey reveals about Black family history more broadly

Who This Is For

• Individuals researching African-Caribbean or Black British ancestry
• Those who have reached a point where records no longer connect
• Anyone seeking to understand how Black ancestry can be traced despite historical limitations
• People interested in genealogy, migration, identity and family history

This work ultimately leads to a deeper question: Who do you think you are?

Event Details:

Start Time: 7:00pm
Finish Time: 8:00pm

Tickets: Free and paid ticket options available

Location: Online

Ticket packages include optional digital resources such as the African–Irish–Creole Caribbean Culture Guide, Descendants eBook and DNA Testing Demystified.

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