George Edward Freeney Jr., an accomplished African American, has a diverse background in the military and Hi-Tech industries. In 2006, he embarked on a quest to find his unknown biological father, going to great lengths to connect with him, even appearing on the Dr. Phil Show in 2008. Today, George is renowned for using Ai, images, video, and augmented reality to tell the stories of African American communities. He shares his photography knowledge with African American children and is developing the educational :insights STEAM program. George started the Black Book :projects to help African Americans repair their genealogies. Today, he focuses full-time on documenting African American communities tied to his own enslaved ancestors, known as the Black Book: "Freeney Town."

learn more ...

Charles Devereaux and his sons, John William, Samuel McDowell, and Charles Hughes, enslaved over 150 African Americans for about 80 years from 1785 to June 19, 1865. Samuel McDowell Devereux and his wife Anne Loyd Devereux were prominent planters in Devereux, Hancock County, Georgia, and owned 26 slaves in 1850. Julien Sidney Devereux, son of John William Devereux, was a planter and state legislator in Alabama and Texas. He established the Monte Verdi Plantation in Rusk County, Texas. In 2018, a historical marker was dedicated to honoring the 80 slave families who lived and worked at the Monte Verdi Plantation from 1842 to 1865. Julien Sidney Devereux's estate records from 1856 are the most complete Antebellum Texas Slave Plantation records in the United States.