USA Today - 17.10.2019

NASA says “capable, qualified women”

to handle space station mission

JESSICA MEIR BY AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

All-female spacewalk

to tackle power issue

IN NEWS

HARRISON HILL/USA TODAY

“Jojo Rabbit,” “Marriage Story” helped

ease “feeling of doubt” after divorce

IN LIFE

Johansson begins new

chapter with dual roles

After a 19-31 start, Washington is

World Series-bound and making history

IN SPORTS

HOWIE KENDRICK BY USA TODAY SPORTS

These Nationals leave

ghosts of past behind

$2.00 z THE NATION'S NEWS THURSDAY

QIJFAF-04005w(O)c

©COPYRIGHT 2019

USA TODAY,

A division of

Gannett Co., Inc.

©

When American drivers are

running late, they say their bad

driving habits ramp up:

Drive over the

speed limit

Speed up at

yellow lights

Don’t fully stop at

stop signs

Drive

aggressively

Multitask

Change lanes

without a blinker

Use their horn

40%

SOURCE Liberty Mutual Insurance study
AMY BARNETTE, DAVID ANESTA/USA TODAY

10.17.

GM, UAW reach

tentative deal

to end strike

Workers told to remain on picket line,

but approval could put an end to the

monthlong ordeal.In Money

UAW’S TERRY DITTES BY USA TODAY NETWORK

HOME DELIVERY
1-800-872-0001, USATODAYSERVICE.COM

LUANDA, Angola – It was well

past midnight, but I was still

wound up.

That day, I’d stood in the door-

way of a slave trader’s house

where, centuries ago, Angolans

were forced onto ships that never

returned. It felt like a boulder was

stuck in my chest.

Still, I had work to do. I scribbled

details in my reporter’s notebook –

visitors wiping tears, shackles dis-

played behind glass cases, fish siz-

zling on glowing coals, children

skipping along the sand.

At one point, I got caught up,

swinging my hips and shuffling my

feet in the dirt, dancing to local

music with Angolans who swore I

was one of them.

‘‘Maybe I am,” I thought, then

kept on dancing.

But later, in the quiet of my hotel

room, I sought the answer. I knew

my ancestors were from Africa, but

where? Was I at home in Angola?

A few weeks earlier, I had taken

a DNA test. That night in my hotel,

1619: Connection

Writing about Colonial America’s first enslaved

Africans, reporter found her own ancestors

USA TODAY reporter Deborah Berry greets a villager near Malanje, Angola. PHOTOS BY JARRAD HENDERSON/USA TODAY

Deborah Barfield Berry

USA TODAY

Berry greets Philip Manuel John

Lenda, grand soba, or leader, of the

territory in Pungo Andongo during a

recent trip to Angola.

Oral history was

• and still is –

a major link to our

past, but the

paper trail can

run cold.

Records weren’t always kept for

African Americans; some were lost,

destroyed or tucked in family

Bibles. For years, the census didn’t

even name them.

Deborah Barfield Berry

WASHINGTON – President Donald
Trump, facing bipartisan condem-
nationover Turkey’s invasion of Syria,
defended his handling of the matter
Wednesday as “strategically brilliant”
and downplayed the U.S. alliance with
the Kurds, who are “not angels.”
“It’s not our problem,” Trump said
in the Oval Office as Vice President
Mike Pence and Secretary of State
Mike Pompeo prepared to travel to
Turkey to try to negotiate a cease-fire
and avoid a humanitarian crisis on the
Syrian border.
Trump dismissed mounting criti-
cism from Capitol Hill and allies, ques-
tioning the character of the Kurds,
many of whom fought alongside U.S.
troops against the Islamic State, also
known as ISIS. The House overwhelm-
ingly backed a resolution condemning
Trump’s decision to withdraw U.S.
troops from Syria, a move that cleared
the way for Turkey’s invasion.
Democratic leaders, including
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, stormed
out of an afternoon meeting at the
White House on Syria, claiming the
president does not have a plan to con-
tain the Islamic State. White House
spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham de-
scribed the move as “baffling but not
surprising.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.,
says President Trump doesn’t have a
plan to stop the Islamic State.
JIM LO SCALZO/EPA-EFE

Trump:

Syria

‘not our

problem’

Republicans join House

rebuke of withdrawal

John Fritze, David Jackson,
Deirdre Shesgreen
and Courtney Subramanian
USA TODAY

See SYRIA, Page 2A

Five lessons I learned

zTap older family members for

stories and memories.My older

cousins proved to be invaluable in

finding where to start and to con-

firm information.

zDon’t underestimate the U.S.

Census.It can be a key source for

figuring out where your family lived

and who was in that household.

Some information, including the

spelling of names, can be wrong, so

crosscheck with other resources.

zAsk the librarian.I can’t tell you

how many times researchers and

librarians helped or pointed me to a

great resource. Clerks at the county

records offices were also helpful.

Visit different libraries; they may

have different data and resources.

zGet organized.Author Tony Bur-

roughs cautioned that you should

catalog and organize as you do your

research. I listened, and it helped

big time.

zSearch for birth certificates and

other vital records,which can lead

to useful information, such as the

names of parents and where they

were born. My place of birth on my

daughter’s birth certificate is

wrong. I never changed it. You can

bet I will now because anyone

searching my history will think I was

born in Washington, D.C., instead of

Brooklyn, New York.

See 1619, Page 4A

“

1619.usatoday.com

Captured, enslaved, she survived.

Meet Angela, the first named

African woman in Jamestown.