A new augmented reality (AR) experience is bringing the stories of Portsmouth, New Hampshire’s African Burying Ground to life. The platform is being unveiled today as part of the Black Heritage Trail’s Juneteenth celebrations, marking the tenth anniversary of the African Burying Ground Memorial Park. Portsmouth’s African Burying Ground The African Burying Ground dates back to at least 1705 and served as the final resting place for more than 200 people of African descent. Over time, the site was paved over and forgotten until 2003, when workers uncovered five coffins
A new augmented reality (AR) app, Looking Glass, is offering Pittsburgh residents and visitors a unique way to explore the city’s rich Black history. The Looking Glass Launched this summer by technologist Adrian Jones, the Looking Glass app turns historical archives into interactive, location-based experiences. Users can explore various Pittsburgh neighborhoods and uncover the stories that have shaped these communities over time. The app’s first focus is East Liberty, a neighborhood that has undergone changes over the decades as it faced a sharp decline in the 1960s due to an
Ancestry.com has released a new collection of newspaper articles related to more than 183,000 enslaved people in the US. The collection is free to access and leverages an AI-powered search tool to provide millions of descendants of formerly enslaved individuals with unprecedented access to detailed historical records. Never-before-seen records Ancestry’s “Articles of Enslavement” collection comprises approximately 38,000 newspaper articles dating from 1788 to 1867. Many of these original newspaper articles contain never-before-seen information about enslaved individuals and fill gaps in historical records where courthouse and community documents have been lost
