History Gene Runs in the Family

Debra White Hayes and her daughter Charity Hayes share a passion for sorting through dusty remnants of the past, venturing into old graveyards and tramping through woods looking for historical markers.

The unusual mother-daughter team is part of a Cal State Northridge history project conducting research in a region of Mississippi where the Forks of the Road, the South’s second largest enslavement market, thrived in the mid-1800s.

But White Hayes—whose family lines go back to Natchez, where the project is based—was bitten by the history bug long ago. “The study of our roots has been a project of mine for more than 40 years,” she said.

White Hayes passed her passion on to Charity, who in turn inspired her mother to follow her tracks through Valley College, then on to CSUN. Both quickly found themselves working side by side in Natchez, elbow deep in the yellowing documents of the courthouse and the Natchez Historical Society, and traveling down lonely country roads in search of interviews.

Charity’s focus is on her family’s regional roots, and White Hayes is conducting vital research on the long-shuttered Natchez College. In running their historical quarry to ground, the two spark each other with ideas, facts and insights. Neither has allowed even life-changing personal events—breast cancer for Debra and the birth of a son for Charity—to throw them off their pursuit.

In spring ’07, Charity earned her B.A. in history, on the way to a master’s degree at CSUN. Her mother, still following her tracks, is not far behind.