Much of black history during and after slavery, panel members said, is oral — White’s family always said that they were descendants of Jefferson. She enjoyed visiting Monticello, but each time she went, her mention of her family’s lore would be brushed off. Finally, a docent connected her with a local historian.

When Leontyne Clay Peck began researching her family’s past, she discovered that she was descended from a slave in Madison County, and had connections to Montpelier, Monticello and the first settlers of Jamestown.

Documentary evidence before the 1870 Census is hard to find, and the world of enslaved people was not limited to the boundaries of plantations, as family members often lived on neighboring estates or in other towns.

Peck said she assumed the history of the black side of her family would be lost to time, but once she started digging, she said, she realized she could begin linking family members to some of the South’s most famous homes.

“I am always encouraging individuals to look into the mirror and ask their reflection, ‘Who am I?’” Peck said. “‘What is my history? What is my story?’”