Explorations in Genealogy, a quarterly series offered at the West Baton Rouge Museum is pleased to welcome Ja’el Gordon for the first presentation of the year. Her presentation exploring how genealogical and family-history methodologies can be used to identify and contextualize enslaved individuals who appear unnamed in historical artwork will be held on Saturday, January 10, 2026 from 10:30 – Noon.
Using detailed archival research, plantation records, and art analysis, Gordon will demonstrate how these methods uncover the real lives behind figures who were deliberately erased or left unidentified. This work shows how combining genealogy with material culture allows museums to restore identity, agency, and historical truth to the enslaved people represented in these images.
Ja’el Gordon is a historian and genealogist specializing in Deep South antebellum history, genetic genealogy, cultural exhibit installations, and descendant outreach. As a researcher, Ja’el works for and on current and “lost” plantation sites, where she conducts investigative research and provides corrective narrative education programming. Her expertise also includes repository research, collection curation, exhibition installations, cemetery preservation, and event/programming planning. Ja’el holds a Bachelor of Arts in History from Southern University and A&M College at Baton Rouge, a Master of Arts in Museum Studies from Southern University New Orleans, and is a Ph.D. Candidate in Higher Education at Jackson State University.
This presentation coincides with the opening date of the current exhibit on display through March 8, 2026, Gone But Not Forgotten: Black Cemeteries of West Baton Rouge. Guest curated by fellow genealogist, cemetery mapper, and founder of the nonprofit, Westside Cemetery Preservation, Debbie Martin, this exhibit examines the historic lost burial grounds of enslaved Black people across the parish as well as those cemeteries that are in danger of becoming lost to Mother Nature or land development.
Explorations in Genealogy is hosted by the West Baton Rouge Genealogical Society and is sponsored by the West Baton Rouge Museum. This program is FREE, open to the public, and no registration is required.
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