NORFOLK, Va. — For Black History Month, a Hampton Roads man is reflecting on a decades-long journey to uncover his family’s past. It’s a journey that has connected him to nearly 40,000 ancestors and centuries of history.
More than 20 years after first sharing his story publicly, Darryl Eley says his family tree is still growing. Eley was just 14 years old when he urged his mother, Betty, to help him begin researching their ancestry. What started as teenage curiosity soon became a lifelong mission.
“I knew that this must be my calling. It must be the reason I’m here,” Eley said…