Name: Ellen Fernandez-Sacco

Title: Independent scholar

Location: Tampa, Florida

Pronouns: She/Her

Email address: efsacco@gmail.com

Languages: English, Spanish, French

Areas of research: Genealogy, History of Enslavement in Caribbean

Biography: Ellen Fernandez-Sacco, PhD, (Boriken Taino) connects people to their ancestors. She is a genealogist, public educator, independent scholar, and blogger skilled at finding and reporting back to clients the story of their ancestral history, especially African descended, AfroIndigenous and Taino peoples of Puerto Rico. She helps clients better understand their connections to their enslavers and enslaved ancestors. She shows how to access and interpret digitized archival materials that inform slavery, genealogy, and family histories, that also offer the potential for healing. These resources are a means of writing our ancestors back into a historical narrative that encompasses the richness of who we are. Ellen has written multiple peer-reviewed articles and papers on genealogy. She has presented at several professional conferences and is recognized for her leadership in the field. Her current book project, “Reconstructing the Missing Registro de Esclavos for Northwest Puerto Rico,” consists of context, transcriptions, and family histories of those transitioning to freedom in nineteenth-century Puerto Rico. With over twenty years of experience, she teaches introductory and intermediate courses on Puerto Rican genealogy so clients can delve deeper into their own exploration and family discovery. Please visit her website, https://latinogenealogyandbeyond.com