For the first time, local historian Cliff McCarthy will speak publicly about his mixed-race family, telling the story of his grandfather’s “passing” over the color line, his accomplished family members, and describing how his family’s incredible story
illuminates many aspects of African American history and the history of our nation – from Negro League baseball to the violence of the Red Summer of 1919. He will relate what he has learned about his enslaved ancestors in Georgia and their enslavers. He
will share the adventure of his fifty-year genealogical journey and its moments of discovery, heartache, joy, and dumb luck.

This program is funded by the Friends of the Clapp Memorial Library.