There are friendships that
are unlikely. Then there are
friendships that are unimaginable.

- Chronicle of Higher Education   

Pam Smith and Ann Neel met in 1991 on the phone when Pam contacted Ann for assistance in researching her family history in Randolph County, Missouri, knowing that Ann had long experience studying slaveholding families from that area. After two years of sharing ideas and resources, they made a startling discovery. Their family histories intersected directly. Pam's enslaved great great grandfather was actually owned by a member of Ann's family. What can we learn from their struggle to bridge a painful racial divide? How is it possible that such an horrific discovery ends with friendship?

The presentation by these two women explores the emotional and sociological implications of African slavery for black/white relations today; everyone's connection to the experience of his or her ethnic group; and the painful and rewarding experience of creating a working relationship and re-creating a friendship out of this extraordinary historical connection. Their conversation weaves relevant information about how to begin a family history search, DNA testing to determine ethnic composition and African ancestry, and insights about current social justice issues.

Ann Neel is Professor Emerita of Comparative Sociology and Women Studies at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington, where she taught since 1975. Having received her Ph.D. in Sociology from UC Berkeley, Ann has specialized in the areas of the historical sociology of gender, race, and class inequality in the Americas, in deviance and social control, and in feminist studies. Her major research has been on slave-holding families in Little Dixie, Missouri.  She currently teaches courses on race at Santa Rosa Jr. College and the history of U.S. slavery and Jim Crow at the Sonoma State University Osher program.

Pam Smith is a project management and communications consultant in Chicago, Illinois for nonprofit organizations. Her most recent project was the 40th Commemoration of the Chicago Freedom Movement. Pam has spent years working in politics and government including serving as Communications Director and Press Secretary for Sen. Barack Obama on his successful U.S. Senate primary campaign and for Rev. Jesse Jackson on his 1988 presidential campaign. She also directed communications for Cook County Government, the 2nd largest county in the country. Pam spent two years working on education projects in Africa (Burundi and Benin). While living on the continent, she traveled extensively and visited slave ports in Ghana, Senegal, and Benin. A recent DNA test traced her African ancestry to Cameroon, Central Africa. She traveled there to spend time with her people, the Tikar.