correction
An earlier version of this article incorrectly said the Southern Maryland Descendant Gatherings Committee this year will receive $400,000 from Georgetown University's reconciliation fund. The committee will receive a portion of those funds. Organizers declined to reveal the exact amount. The article has been corrected.
For decades, Julie Hawkins Ennis never questioned her family story. The 55-year-old knew she was born and raised in Southern Maryland, just like her grandparents. Her family tree connects to St. Mary’s County’s earliest European settlers as well as the Native Americans who first occupied the land.
Efforts years ago to trace her genealogy through Ancestry.com only affirmed her beliefs — until a man distantly related to her contacted her through the site, suggesting her family may have actually migrated from the Southern United States, as many Black Americans did during the Great Migration. She was put off by the notion.
