Talks, Workshops & Keynotes: Black History and Family History with Paul Crooks
Through Black history and family history, Paul Crooks helps audiences explore ancestry, identity, belonging and historical context. Drawing on more two decades of research, his talks reveal how historical records can uncover forgotten stories, challenge assumptions and create new ways of understanding the past.
Select a talk that reflects where your research has stalled.
Paul Crooks, author with a specialist interest in African Caribbean Ancestry
Exploring Black History Through Family History: Who Do You Think You Are?
Thursday 22 October 6 PM - 7 PM
Victoria Library
160 Buckingham Palace Road
London SW1W 9TR
Celebrate Black History Month 2026 by discovering how to trace your African ancestry.
Join Paul Crooks, a pioneering African Caribbean genealogist and Black history specialist, for a powerful and practical session on how to explore your African diasporan roots.
Discovering Family Stories Beyond the Records
Black History: Tracing Caribbean Ancestry Back to the 1880s
Many Caribbean family histories can be traced back to the 1880s. Discover why this milestone reveals more than many realise.
Tracing Caribbean Ancestry: Britains Slave Compensation Records
Black history meets family history as one Caribbean lineage is identified and traced as slavery gave way to freedom in the Caribbean.
Black History: Start Tracing your Ancestry with Paul Crooks
Most family history clues are hiding in plain sight. Discover how records, maps and Black history reveal more than you think.
When names and identities shift
Black Genealogy: The Truth about Slave Names and Surnames
What if some of the most familiar explanations for Caribbean surnames are incomplete? Explore the Black history behind slave names.
Black Genealogy: The Truth About DNA Testing — Hoax or Reality
Explore what DNA testing can and cannot reveal about Caribbean ancestry—and why results often leave important questions unanswered.
Racism Origins: Secrets of the 1817 Slave Registers
A Black history month masterclass on what the 1817 Slave registers reveal about the origins of racism.
Reconnecting African and Caribbean History
Tracing Caribbean Ancestry: Who Do You Think You Are?
Paul Crooks presents a masterclass examining a documented Caribbean ancestry journey from Britain to West Africa through Black history.
Tracing African Caribbean Roots: Secrets of 1817 Slave Registers Uncovered
Black History and Caribbean ancestry through the Slave Registers. Discover what these records reveal about family history and identity
Black History: Tracing Caribbean Ancestry to the 1770s
Many Caribbean family histories reach the emancipation era. Discover why this period matters so much.
Black History and Caribbean Ancestry
Black History & Ancestry: What the Maroons Reveal About Our Ancestors
Explore the Black history behind Jamaica's resistance movements and what they reveal about Caribbean ancestry.
Black History & Caribbean Ancestry: Jamaican Slaves Who Abolished Slavery
A Black History and Family history talk on how tracing one family line uncovered links to the events that helped bring slavery to an end.
Black History & Ancestry: Economic Forces Behind Emancipation
How the economic forces behind emancipation shaped Black history and what this reveals about the lives of our ancestors.