Yesterday, the New York Times published a fascinating article compiling research on first lady Michelle Obama’s genealogical background. I have always been a fan of genealogy because it can shift the historical focus from the famous to the more “common” people, offering a much fuller and more accurate picture of what life was actually like. What the story of the first lady’s ancestors shows is a family’s slow but steady rise over more than a century from the worst of conditions, indignities and abuses to becoming a celebrated and influential symbol of today’s United States.

Much of the information in the article is also apparently new to the first lady and the rest of her family. As I blogged and wrote about earlier this year, many descendants of slaves and slaveholders are simply not aware of their past, or share a common desire not to talk about it out of a sense of shame. But, as President Obama said during his campaign, instead of continuing to sweep the issue under the carpet or simply declare it “ancient history,” slavery is something many Americans, black and white, still need to come to terms with if they are going to move forward together to build a more unified country.

Of course, the United States is not alone in having skeletons in its closet. When you think about your family’s history, what historical legacies still lurk in the shadows and perhaps play a part in your country’s modern day politics? Does knowing your family’s role help you understand and motivate you to move forward, or would you rather not know?

When covering President Obama, it can be hard to miss the symbolism of what the first African-American president means within the context of United States history.

Saturday September 26 was one such moment, when the president addressed the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) Foundation’s annual Phoenix Awards dinner. The award is given for “efforts and accomplishments that have made significant contributions to society, and symbolizing the immortality of the human spirit and an eternal desire to reach its full potential.”

But its name comes from a speech given in 1901 by outgoing African-American Congressman George Henry White. White was the last black congressman left in the U.S. Capitol after promises of new freedom for African-Americans following the 1861-1865 Civil War were replaced by legalized segregation of the races, intimidation and disqualification of black voters, and outright acts of terror, such as lynchings.

“This, Mr. Chairman, is perhaps the Negro’s temporary farewell to the American Congress,” White told his fellow lawmakers, “but let me say, Phoenix-like he will rise up someday and come again.”

Addressing the CBC, which has represented African-American members of the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate since its founding in 1969, President Obama said “tonight is a fulfillment of [White’s] prophecy.” Along with the president, there are now also 41 African-American congressmen.

“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice,” Obama told black lawmakers and guests, quoting from U.S. Civil Rights leader Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In case that quote looks familiar to you, the president also used it in June to express his support for the right of Iranian protesters to peacefully assemble and speak their minds.