Brister English Project

Find your people in the records that tried to erase them

Helping descendants of chattel slavery navigate genealogy, understand slavery records, cross the 1870 wall, and tell the truth about our history.

Community Archives

Visit our digital archives

Our community archives are where we bring everything home: documents, clippings, transcriptions, and family records, all in one place. Built by us, for us.

Our community archives live right here on the site. Kindex is our partner platform where you can browse records we've already preserved. Ready to help transcribe new records? Join our transcription projects.

Support This Work

Donate to the Brister English Project

If BEP has ever helped you or your family, please consider giving directly - any amount helps keep this work alive and free for everyone.

By the Numbers

The work in motion

A living archive, built one record, one name, one family at a time.

Resources & collections available
News clippings preserved
Information Wanted ads
Documents in the archive
Documents needing transcription
Liberation ads created

Keep It Going

This work only exists because people support it

Free resources, transcription projects, youth programs, and moving the archive forward all happen because folks donate. Every dollar helps keep this work alive.

Our Journey

How we've grown

From a simple link tree to a comprehensive nonprofit platform.

1

Where It Started

Our first collection of genealogy resources and links, built to share tools with the community.

Visit Linktree
2

Expanding the Vision

A more robust platform with organized databases, projects, and community spaces.

Visit Zaap
3

Official Nonprofit

The complete Brister English Project platform, now a registered nonprofit organization.

Visit Official Site