The Eastern People of Color History Initiative
My initial research into Rose was rather complicated due to how common the name "Rose" was for slaves. So, to make my research easier, I began looking for slaves connected to Rose in multiple documents to differentiate each Rose. What I had to do was look back at the documents in the Notion database and the Lucidchart for sources for my analysis on Rose through her connection to Custis's slaves. I then had to learn new tools to help me organize my information, while expanding my knowledge on how genealogical research worked.
The Begining
With this new objective in analyzing Rose, I needed to look back at the documents in Notion and the Lucidchart through a different lens. I knew I had my initial theories of Rose's initial connections with the Custis slaves, including her and a slave named Ned. However, there were too many different Roses across too many different documents, not to infer deeper into the theory that there are multiple Roses with their own significance within the Custis family. I began compiling a different collection of documents from the Custis family, each containing Roses with a connection to a specific bloodline of the Custis family. I wanted to make a graphic with those documents to prove that there were multiple Roses within the Custis family, each with their connection to the Custis slaves.
The graphic I wanted to make was a timeline of each Rose to see when slaves moved with Rose, and who in the Custis family they stayed with. I originally wanted to make a graphic using Lucidchart again; however, it did not come out the way I wanted it to look. Instead, started to learn how to use Google Sheets and Excel to make the timeline and how each slave was connected to Rose within each document. I knew the basics of organizing cells, however, I also learned how use use the drop-down option to list each slave in each document, along with Rose. The overall timeline was a significant help to my research process by helping me visualize Rose's connection based on time and location. The timeline solidified my theory of the existence of multiple distinct Roses within the Custis family with unique connections to other Custis slaves.
The Reflection
Creating this timeline added more skills to my repertoire of historical analysis using digital tools in creative ways. Before my research, I had a surface-level understanding of how spreadsheets worked. Now, I am confident in creating different documents using spreadsheets, and encouraged to learn more about them for future projects. However, this part of my research forced me to think from a historical standpoint and start thinking from a genealogical standpoint. I had to ask questions about connections instead of historical context, and expand on Rose as a person instead of a figure within the context of the Eastern Shore's history.