Bernice Alexander Bennett

Bernice Alexander Bennett is an award-winning author of three books, genealogist, nationally recognized guest speaker, storyteller, and producer-host of the popular Research at the National Archives and Beyond Blogtalkradio show. She is also the first recipient of the Ida B. Wells Service Award given by the Sons and Daughters of the United States Middle Passage for her dedication to broadcasting stories about enslaved and indentured ancestors of African descent. In addition, she received the Elizabeth Clark-Lewis Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society (AAHGS) Genealogy Award in 2019 for original research in support of African-American Genealogy.

Bennett's first collaborative book chronicled her South Carolina Journey in Our Ancestors, Our Stories (The Write Image), and won the 2018 International AAHGS Book Award for Non-Fiction Short Stories.

Her second book - Tracing Their Steps: A Memoir (Shortwood Press) won the Next Generations Indie Book Awards in 2021 for the African American (Non-Fiction) book category and was a semi-finalist in 2021 for the Winning Writer’s Book award. Also, Tracing Their Steps won the International AAHGS Book Award in 2020 for Non-Fiction Short Story and in 2019 the Phillis Wheatley Literary Award from the Sons and Daughters of the United States Middle Passage.

Her third book Black Homesteaders of the South (The History Press) is the Next Generations Indie Book Awards 2023 Finalists for two book categories - African American (Non-Fiction) and African American (Culture and History), the 2023 Phillis Wheatley book award for African American (Non-Fiction Event) by the Sons and Daughters of the United States Middle Passage, and the 2023 International AAHGS Book Awards Winner for Historical: Non-Fiction.

Bennett is a founding director and faculty member with the award-winning Midwest African American Genealogy Institute; a former member of the Board of Directors for the National Genealogical Society, and a Volunteer with the Homestead National Historical Park in Beatrice, Nebraska. She received the 2022 Midwest Region's Hartzog Award for being a leader in unearthing and sharing black homesteading stories and important historical documentation.