Ep 20: How Jennine Labuzan's Geneaology Research Helped A Federal Judge Say YES To Her Suing The U.S. Government!

Your family tree may tell you more than where you came from. It could tell you what your family once owned.

Historical researcher Jennine Labuzan joins The Build Black Show for a deep dive into genealogy, ancestral land, federal land patents and the records Black families may have never been taught to search. Jennine says her own genealogy research led her to an extraordinary discovery involving her third-great-grandfather, Charles A.

Labuzan , and property tied to an 1840 federal land patent. Her search eventually grew into a legal battle involving land in Mississippi and a federal Quiet Title Act lawsuit against the United States.

Court records show that in July 2026, a federal judge denied the government’s motion to dismiss that case, allowing the litigation to move forward. Recently featured on #RolandMartinUnfiltered , Jennine joins The Build Black Show to explain what she found, how she found it, and why she believes Black Americans should begin digging deeper into their own genealogy and property records.

We get into: Federal land patents and why they matter Genealogy beyond building a family tree Researching deeds, property and public records Black land ownership and historical land loss Ancestral and inheritance claims How forgotten records can affect generational wealth Why knowing the names of your ancestors matters This is one of those episodes that may completely change what you think genealogy is for. Don’t just ask where your family came from.

Start asking what they owned. This conversation discusses an ongoing legal dispute and the guest’s research and interpretations.

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