Reunion 01: Genealogy and Power with Karin Wulf

In a Virginia courtroom in the mid-1700s, a woman named Mary Aggy stood before a judge, not to defend herself with a lawyer, but with a lineage. She traced her ancestry back to a free woman, arguing that her own enslavement was unlawful. Her case rested not on testimony or character, but on genealogy. In early America, family history could mean the difference between bondage and freedom. But Mary Aggy wasn’t alone. Across the colonies, people used family trees to claim land, assert status, and protect privilege. Genealogy wasn’t just a record of who begat whom; it was a form of power. It shaped who belonged, who ruled, and who was remembered. In her book Lineage: Genealogy and the Power of Connection in Early America, historian Karin Wulf uncovers how family history was used to build nations, enforce hierarchies, and sometimes, challenge them. Today, we talk with her about how the past was organized through kinship, and why understanding those structures still matters in the present.