The Montgomery Family
Read the Enduring Legacy of Dr. Montgomery and the official award letter to learn more about Dr. Montgomery’s W.E.B DuBois Medal.
Read about Sandra Brannon’s valiant fight with Alzheimer’s and the clinical trial she was a part of.
HISTORY
The center is the vision of Monica O. Montgomery, MA, a curator and professor who, following the passing of her parents, Sandra Brannon Montgomery and Dr. Elvin Montgomery Jr., sought to create a sanctuary for the voices of the African diaspora. Both educators and historians, Sandra and Elvin's life's work laid the foundation for DiasporaDNA. They spent over 50 years collecting, preserving, and safeguarding a vast trove of cultural artifacts—over 5,000 items—including books, photos, ephemera, art, vinyl records, and more. These materials trace the legacies of Black, Caribbean, African, and diasporic communities worldwide, spanning from the mid-19th century to the present.
After his passing, his daughter, Monica O. Montgomery, stepped forward to carry this legacy, not as a duty but as a sacred offering. Through DiasporaDNA, she envisioned a space where memory would not just reside but thrive.
A place where the stories of the Black & Global Majority diasporas would breathe, connecting past and present, creating bridges to futures we dare to imagine. DiasporaDNA exists to preserve these stories, to honor the legacy of the global majority, to reclaim the narratives that colonialism and oppression sought to erase.