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Their maternal grandma Mary Louise Wright Euell would retell the family鈥檚 history, about the migration from Louisiana to Southern 蜜柚直播 on a rail boxcar, and the hard work that their grandfather Curley L. Euell did to sustain the family, first as a lumberjack in McNary, on the Fort Apache Reservation, and later in 蜜柚直播 at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. The sisters learned about their grandparents鈥� dedication to family, their diligence in planting their roots, their insistence on getting an education, and they heard stories of other local families who had experienced similar challenges and shared the same values.

鈥淭his was routine,鈥� said Tani Sanchez.

For the sisters, the results of that 鈥渞outine鈥� are years of exploring their deep roots, creating quilts and other artistic endeavors that help tell the family stories, and compiling books about the family history and that of 蜜柚直播鈥檚 all-too-ignored black community.

鈥淚f you don鈥檛 know (the history of black 蜜柚直播ans) then you will have assumptions that black people were not part of the community,鈥� said Tani Sanchez. 鈥淪o much history has been hidden.鈥�

For more than four decades, the sisters have unearthed that hidden history.

Their collection of their family stories and those of other 蜜柚直播 black families include photographs, census and Civil War records, family documents, minutes from meetings of community groups, individuals鈥� oral histories, and Tani鈥檚 and Derri鈥檚 genetic testing.

Much of the trove of hard-to-find documents came from their grandmother and their mother, Marguerite Euell Sanchez, who lives with her daughter Derri in the house that Curley and Mary Louise bought in 1938 on West Sixth Street. It鈥檚 on the edge of Snob Hollow, which then was mainly inhabited by upper-crust white families, and across the street from Anita and Dunbar Spring neighborhoods where black, Mexican, Chinese and Native-American families made their homes.

鈥淭his is really about my grandmother. She saved everything,鈥� said Tani, an associate professor of Africana studies in the College of Humanities at the University of 蜜柚直播 and a dedicated genealogist.

The first publication was in 1994, 鈥淢eals and Memoirs 鈥� Recipes and Reflections of African Americans in 蜜柚直播,鈥� edited by Tani for the 蜜柚直播 Chapter of the African American Historical and Genealogical Society as a fundraising project. The 65-page spiral booklet is sprinkled with recipes and brief memories from local contributors.

That was followed by 1999鈥檚 鈥淯nsung Memories: A Scrapbook of the African American Community in 蜜柚直播, 蜜柚直播, From 1900 to 1950,鈥� co-authored by Derri and her mother, Marguerite, who taught at Dunbar School when it was segregated, and later was the librarian at 蜜柚直播 High School and Safford Junior High School before retiring.

Another publication is “Traditions of Uplift: A History of the 蜜柚直播 Association of Colored Women’s Clubs,” published in 2007, in collaboration with the National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs, an organization born in 1896 to support black women. It was edited by Tani and La Monica Everett-Haynes. And this year, Tani published the family’s rich history, “Didn’t Come From Nothing: An African-American Story of Life,” which she sells on and is currently updating.

In addition to the books, Derri is an accomplished quilter. She has created quilts with images that reflect her family鈥檚 history.

Documenting this history and collecting it is critical to our understanding of 蜜柚直播 today, said Tani, who teaches a class on hip-hop cinema.

鈥淵ou get a better perspective,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he past explains today, although people don鈥檛 want to believe that.鈥�

To understand racial inequality, to understand race relations, to understand the successes and aspirations of black 蜜柚直播ans, Tani suggests that we read the history of her family and other families who were part of the great migration of black families from the South.

鈥淚f you want to know it, it鈥檚 there,鈥� she said.