Using information his grandmother passed down to him, Reverend Mark Kelly Tyler, pastor at Philadelphia's Mother Bethel AME Church, found his great-great-great-great-great-grandfather Rev. Jesse Devine. Rev. Devine signed on to an ad in which he was helping formerly enslaved people find each other.

"Remembering that day when I saw his name pop up there, it was a moment where, you know, it just kind of fills you with a lot of emotion to know that someone connected to you…this was no longer just this historical thing that I’m reading about in a history book or watching a film, but like this is a part of my family that’s helping other families try to get reunited you know in the wake of the worst experience in human history that we know of."

-Mark Kelly Tyler

Listen to Reverend Tyler's interview on Beyond Black History Month.