Archive detective: Frazine Taylor fills in Black family trees
“I had a gentleman just break down in tears,” says Frazine Taylor, recounting one of the most memorable moments of her career as a resource librarian, genealogist, and Alabama historian. A participant in one of her workshops had finally located his great-grandmother on the 1870 census record. “He said, ‘She does exist. She did exist,’” Mrs. Taylor recalls with a smile.
She is sitting at a table at Alabama State University, where she worked for four decades until she retired and where she still helps Black Alabamians recover lost branches of their family trees. Blue-framed glasses perched on her nose, she’s ready
