Genealogical reconstruction depended on archives built to obstruct it

Evidence

I took the binder out of my bag and began to tell him my story, starting with my mother’s oral history and the promise I made her on her deathbed. I told him about Rich, and then showed him the research I had amassed thus far—from the “Black Bodies, White Science” article that set me on this journey to the slave indexes and Taylor wills that Chris Childs found in Utah to Murray’s extraordinary essay that helped me understand that I had legal standing. — Tamara Lanier, From These Roots, 689

Categorization

• XREF: Traces the evidentiary chain the reader wants to reconstruct precisely — oral history, slave indexes, wills, and the Murray essay that established standing.
• QUESTION: Worth chasing: how exactly did Murray’s essay establish legal standing for a descendant’s claim over images?