In April of 2023, Eola Lewis Dance and Dr. Jennie K. Williams, Ph.D. co-founded Kinfolkology with a vision for integrating datawork related to slavery and the lives of the enslaved with the engagement of Descendant communities. Kinfolkology is guided by an understanding that while enslaved ancestors are no longer living, they were and are part of communities and families that are very much alive.

Kinfolkology is supported by a dynamic advisory board of Descendants, scholars, specialists and storytellers. You can view the entire Kinfolkology team here.

Kinfolkology is committed to building structural parity with Descendant communities. Structural parity is a model of shared organizational authority or governance developed by the Montpelier Descendants Committee. When structural parity is in place, Descendants are represented—and empowered—at every level of an organization.

In essence of Kinfolkology’s commitment to structural parity, Kinfolkology x Community workshops are devoted to collaboration and co-visioning with Descendant communities.

Kinfolkology hosts two databases. Oceans of Kinfolk is a database, built by Dr. Jennie K. Williams, Ph.D. of the coastwise traffic of enslaved people in the antebellum United States. Oceans of Kinfolk currently includes the names of more than 63,000 enslaved men, women and children trafficked to New Orleans from domestic ports between 1818 and 1860. Louisiana Kindred is a database of enslaved people who were sold in antebellum New Orleans. It is a work in progress, meaning it is still under construction and data entry is ongoing. Read about Kinfolkology’s data ethics here.